


Seeking a husband

by TwoBoysInABand



Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Alternate Universe, Eventual Smut, Fake Marriage, Falling In Love, First Kiss, Humor, M/M, Slow Build, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-14
Updated: 2018-09-08
Packaged: 2018-12-15 03:38:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 43,927
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11797629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TwoBoysInABand/pseuds/TwoBoysInABand
Summary: A self-proclaimed commitment-phobe and a lonely widower's worlds are about to collide, and they find love in the most unconventional way





	1. Alea iacta est

**Author's Note:**

> The die is cast.  
> -Caesar

Josh Dun doesn't exactly expect today to end up the way it does or that his life would never be the same again. Not that it was that amazing to begin with. He has one friend, a job that he could honestly live without and no one to come home to at the end of the day. The last one is out of preference though. After being cheated on and hurt really badly by his longtime high school boyfriend, he vowed to never let himself be vulnerable ever again.

And he didn't.

You couldn't call Josh Dun a complete fuckboy either though. Sure he had his fair share of hookups, but he never let it be more than a one night thing or leads them on in any kind of way. It is satisfying enough and he could see himself doing this forever; so if you would have told him before today that he would be married in a week, he would have laughed in your face. So on the day his life changes forever, he finds himself walking to his dads office after being asked to come by. He doesn't think much of it, business as usual he assumes. Josh works for his dad's law firm as an operations manager, much to his father's disappointment though. Of course he wanted him to be a lawyer too but Josh didn't have the passion for it to pursue it. His real dream is to open his own music store one day; his true calling he would say.

But this pays the bills for now so he doesn't complain. 

His dad's secretary stops him before he can reach the office door. "Mr. Dun will be back in his office in about ten minutes. He said to tell you just to go in and wait." Josh smiles at her and goes into the office. He sits on the small sofa in there and pulls out his phone, replying to emails while he waits.

"Josh, hey. Thanks for waiting." Bill sits behind his desk and gesters for Josh to sit in one of the chairs. "I'll try to make this fast since you have that meeting at ten."

Josh sits down and pockets his phone.

"Look, you know grandmother's will reading is in a month.."

"Yeah."

Bill shifts in his chair nervously, clasping his hands together and setting them on the desk. "You know grandmother loved you a lot, so I don't want you getting upset with what I'm about to say but I wanted to prepare you for your part of the will."

"Okay," Josh answers unsure; he hasn't even thought about the will honestly so this being brought up suddenly is a little strange to him. 

"I'm a co-executor of grandmother's will and I shouldn't really tell you this yet." Bill hesitates for a minute. "She didn't leave you anything."

Josh furrows his eyebrows in confusion. "I don't understand. I didn't expect her to leave me anything really anyway." 

"She did leave you a million dollars but there were stipulations for that to happen. I don't agree with them but it was her decision."  
Bill pulls a short stack of stapled papers out of the manila envelope that is on his desk and hands them to Josh.

He looks at his dad in shock. A million dollars? Where would his grandmother even get that kind of money? Josh flips through the papers before putting them back on the desk in front of him. "I don't have time to read through all of this, just tell me quickly whats going on."

Bill lets out a long sigh."Basically if you are over the age of twenty-eight and not married by the time the will is read.."

"I'd get no inheritance."

"Yeah unfortunately." Bill grabs the will and puts it back in the envelope. "Look, I'm sorry son. When I found about this the other day, I didn't think it was even remotely fair. I understood why you never married. Both your mother and I remember what you went through with Mason years ago."

"So if I was under twenty-eight I would have gotten it no matter what?" 

"Yep. Also would have gotten automatically if by the will reading, you were married for at least a year." 

"Why a year? What would have happened if it would have been under a year?" 

"Well your grandmother wanted the other co-executor to be in charge of random marriage authentication screenings if that was the case." Bill sighs. "I know that doesn't make much sense and this must be confusing, but she had her reasons I guess." 

Josh takes in a deep breath in. He really doesn't feel like talking about this anymore. Seems pretty cut and dry. What is done, is done apparently. He checks the time on his watch. Nine-forty. "I have to go," he says standing up. "We'll talk about this later." Josh doesn't go straight to the meeting room right after and instead goes to his office. He pulls out his phone again. He really needs to talk to his best friend. He doesn't need to bring this tension into the meeting and she always knows exactly how to calm him down. That's one of the benefits of having the same best friend since childhood. Being an only child too, she has always been like a sister to him.

> Josh: Hey. You aren't busy with the baby or anything huh?
> 
> Jenna: No, Henry is down for a nap. What's going on? You never text me from work. You okay?
> 
> Josh: Yes and no.

He breaks down the whole story for her as quickly as possible. She is just as confused as he is.

> Jenna: I mean, I know what you went through with, well I'm not saying his name but I agreed with your grandma when she pushed you to try to move on and settle down. Just wanted to see you happy. Don't think she should have punished you for it though.
> 
> Josh: Well I guess she just didn't feel the same. She always was set in her ways.
> 
> Jenna: Too bad I'm already married. I would have married you today just for you to get the money. We know everything about each other.  Could have fooled the other executor so easily.

An absolutely insane idea suddenly comes to Josh. 

> Josh: I have to go. I'll call you later. Give Henry a kiss from me when he wakes up. Love you.

Josh hurries to the boardroom and tells a co-worker to lead the meeting instead. He quickly makes his way back to Bill's office."Is he still in?" Josh asks, passing the secretary's desk.

She nods.

Josh takes a deep breath as he opens the door. "Josh, why aren't you at the meeting, it's ten"

Josh paces in front of the desk. "I got Keith to take over it."

"Oh will you just sit down and stop pacing. You're making me nervous."

Josh plops down in the seat quickly. "I went straight to my office after leaving here and texted Jenna. Something she said made me curious." He looks up at Bill. "What if I found someone to agree to marry me for a year. We can get to know each other and fool the other co-executor with the checks and after the year is over we can divorce and I can pay them a portion of the inheritance after. You said everything is based on the will reading date and that's not for another month. It could work." 

Josh chews the inside of his cheek and nervously eyes his dad, waiting on a response. Finally after what feels like a lifetime, Bill breaks the silence. "I'd have to get a prenup drafted for you that protects you both in the event of the divorce. Protects both of your assets you procured before and during the marriage. It would state the amount they get only after a year of marriage and that they would get nothing if the divorce happens before a year."

Josh's eyes widen at the answer he wasn't expecting at all. "Wait...are you actually saying this is a good idea? You, Bill Dun, mister careful himself."

"Usually I wouldn't advise anyone to do this, you're right but I'm confident I can cover your ass legally. You have a good head on your shoulders Joshua. I know you will be careful and responsible about this. Like I said, I didn't think this was fair to begin with." 

"So, what do I do now?"

"I guess find someone that will marry you as soon as possible. After you are confident that you've found the right person, we'll set up a meeting here, just us three and deal with all of the legal stuff. 

Josh says okay and stands up, heart racing as he walks to the door.

"One second," Bill says before Josh opens it. "I think it goes without saying, lets keep this to ourselves here at work and in general. Your grandmother never told me who the other co-executor was so better safe than sorry so it doesn't get back to them. The plan will be over before it even starts."

"Yes sir," Josh says, leaving out and going back to his office. He texts Jenna to let her know he will be going to her house after he gets off of work. If he is going to get himself a husband, Josh wouldn't even considering doing it without her help.

Frankly, he doesn't even know where to start.

Josh watches the clock the rest of the day like a hawk. He can barely concentrate on the growing pile of paperwork on his desk. He folds his arms on the desk and rests his head on them. Josh daydreams about what he can do with the money. He could finally open the music store he has dreamed of, the missing puzzle piece to make him fully happy.

Or so he thinks.

**

Josh sits on Jenna's couch, bouncing Henry on his lap, cooing and smiling at him. Jenna looks at him, confusion on her face as she folds laundry on the other side of the couch. "So let me see if I am hearing this right. You are going to marry a random stranger, who is then going to move in with you...and you two are going to pretend to be in love for a year. And your father is helping you."

Josh doesn't even hesitate. "Well yeah, that's the plan."

Jenna raises an eyebrow at him. "Joshua I love you, but you've never even lived with anyone since you moved out of your parent's house. You like your space and you hate commitment; you're just going to suddenly be okay with all of that?"

Josh huffs and places the baby on the floor with some toys. "Well it's worth a try. It's a small price to pay for my music store, and weren't you the one saying you would do this with me if you could?"

"Well it's me and it was a joke. I didn't think you would take what I said seriously and just make a full on plan. Even roped Bill into it." She laughs and throws pair of rolled up socks at him.

He picks up the socks and tosses them back. "He agreed right away; no roping was even necessary believe it or not. Also it's not a full on plan yet, that's why I'm here. I need your help figuring out exactly how to find this husband."

Jenna sighs as she places the folded clothes back in the basket and starts walking towards the stairs. "Well after dinner, I'll get Evan to put Henry down and I'll pour us some wine and we'll figure something out."

Josh smiles and picks the baby back up. "Your mommy is the best, you know that?"

"And don't ever forget it," Jenna yells from the top of the stairs.

 **

Jenna sits down next to Josh on the couch and hands him a glass of wine. "So do you have any ideas already or we starting from scratch here?"

Josh takes a small sip of his drink. "I was maybe thinking I could go to a bar or something."

Jenna almost spits out the wine in her mouth. "Oh yes, I can see that now." She places her glass on the coffee table and grabs his arms. "Excuse me kind sir, do you maybe want to get out of here? Oh and by the way, want to marry me too?"

"When you say it like that it sounds stupid," he mumbles as he takes another sip.

"It isn't stupid but you and I both know that is going to fail miserably. There is zero chance of that plan working."

"Well what's the great Jen's plan then?"

"I don't know. Where do you go for a fake husband? It's not exactly an every day service that's needed. Not like you can just place and ad on the internet for one."

They both freeze simultaneously before looking at each other.

"I'll grab my laptop," Jenna says, getting up and quickly darting to her bedroom upstairs.

Josh scoots near her on the couch a few minutes later as she is turning it on; he kisses her forehead. "You beautiful genius."

"I know," she says smiling. "Okay so where to post this ad...there's Craigslist?"

Josh groans. "Am I really sitting here with you contemplating trying to find a husband, on Craigslist." He rubs a hand over his face. "I guess beggars can't be choosers though. Let's do it." He's pretty sure this is either going to not have a chance in hell of working or it's going to attract some strange people. Who actually answers an ad like they are about to post?, he thinks as Jenna clicks the new post button in the male to male personals section and gets to work.

 

>  
> 
> Seeking a husband
> 
> I'm looking for someone to marry right away.
> 
> Must be between the ages of 22 and 35.
> 
> Although sex is not a requirement, you at least need to be comfortable kissing, mild touches and affection. 
> 
> You will have to be willing to move in with me right away after the wedding.
> 
> The marriage will be for a year so be prepared for that and only respond if you can dedicate that exact amount of time.
> 
> No one with children please.
> 
> You will be very generously compensated.
> 
> Please email me if you are interested and we'll set up a time and place to meet and discuss the details further.
> 
> Thank you.

 

Josh reads it over and with a lot of hesitation, tells Jenna to post it. "People are going to think I'm some serial killer or something, you know that right?"

Jenna closes her laptop. "Or they might be one."

Josh stands up. "Gee thanks for that. You are probably right though, always are."

"Let's hope not this time," she says standing up too.

Josh hugs her. "I guess I need to get home. Thank you for everything, babe."

"Anytime," she says, walking him to the door. "Oh and you better text me right away if you get a response."

"Of course."

**

Little does Josh know as he climbs into bed that night, someone that is about to completely turn his life upside down, is just then clicking his ad.


	2. Fortes fortuna adiuvat

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fortune favors the brave.  
> -Terence

If you expected Josh Dun to immediately spring out of bed the next morning and check his e-mail for a response, you'd be wrong. You see, through blurry half awake eyes, the flashing blue notification light on his phone does nothing more than make him instantly regret posting the ad. So he definitely isn't in a rush to see who actually responded to it.

To this asinine plan of his.

He hasn't regretted something so fast since the time he and Jenna got into his dad's scotch and made out when they were fourteen. Needless to say, neither one has drank scotch or spoke of it ever again. He sits up in his bed and groans. Josh is actually not happy for once that it is Saturday. The mind numbing monotony of work would have been a welcome thing today. Any excuse to ignore this for a little longer. He knows he can't put it off forever but he certainly isn't dealing with it before his coffee. Josh groggily shuffles to the en-suite bathroom first. He stands in front of the mirror, running a hand through his brown curls. He doesn't hold his own gaze in the mirror long. He can barely look at himself. He feels a new emotion he doesn't feel usually, shame....and guilt. Okay, maybe two new emotions. Is he this miserable that he jumped at the first chance to change his life? No matter how morally ambiguous the way to do that is?

Obviously, because now he's sitting at his kitchen island, in front of his bitter black coffee and clicking on the email.

> Hi. My name is Tyler. I'm very interested in your ad. I'm 29. No kids. I'm comfortable with the things you mentioned and I have a year to dedicate to this.

Josh thinks it sounds a little too good to be true. Someone responded this quickly, who's his age, single and just so happens to be down for all of it. Seems sketchy at best in his opinion but he'd be crazy to not at least meet this person. He downs the rest of his coffee and grabs a slice of cold pizza out of the refrigerator before sitting back down and looking over the e-mail some more. His thumb hovers over the phone number that this  _Tyler_  left. "This is going to be so awkward." Josh says out loud as he sets the pizza down and clicks the number.

"Hello?" A somewhat confused voice answers after a few rings.

"Tyler, hi, I'm the guy that placed the husband ad. You left your number so I'm calling to set up a place and time to meet."

There's a long silence on the other end of the line and then a loud groan. "He didn't..." another groan follows. "Mark, get your ass in here!" Josh sits in silence, not even sure what to say. "What?" Josh hears a voice in the background ask,  _Mark_  he's assuming. "What the hell man. You responded when I told you not to?" is the last thing Josh hears before the phone hangs up.

He puts his phone down and picks the slice of pizza back up. Perfect. The only response so far and it was a joke or something. Josh knew it was too good to be true. He finishes the pizza and as he stands up, the text tone on his phone goes off.

> Unknown: He'll be there. Just text the place and time.

Josh texts back to meet him at his favorite cafe at eleven. Might as well make it like a business lunch.

He texts Jenna.

> Josh: Meeting a guy named Tyler at Tasi @ 11. His friend seems to be making him come so I'm not getting my hopes up.
> 
> Jenna: Wow, can't believe someone actually responded that fast. Be nice to him Joshua.
> 
> Josh: When am I not nice?
> 
> Jenna: Just keep in mind that this isn't one of your one night stands. Try to be charming.  Remember, you actually want this guy to stay around.. 
> 
> Josh: Yes mom. I'll come by after I leave from meeting him.

Jenna is right. He needs to try to be friendly and warm. It's not like he was mean usually to guys but he wouldn't call himself ever charming past what it usually took to get them to go home with him; it usually doesn't take much effort. Josh looks at the time. He has a hour to get ready and leave. A small wave of panic starts to hit him while he is showering. This may be one of his last few showers living alone.

For a year.

He shoves the anxiety down though and finishes his shower. He knows it's not the time to freak out. Nothing has even happened yet. After his shower, Josh throws on a pair of khakis and a polo shirt and leaves.

**

Josh arrives at the cafe and gets a table. There are only a few other people there and it's a relief. This is going to be awkward enough without being in a crowded restaurant. A few minutes later someone walking in, pushing a bike, catches his attention. The guy props the bicycle against a wall by the door and looks around. Josh thinks this has to be the guy so he holds up a hand and waves him over. Josh stands up as the guy approaches the table. "You must be Tyler." He says, shaking his hand.

"That's me." Tyler sits down and looks at him, a smile playing at his lips. "You must be ad guy."

"It's Josh. Sorry. Forgot I didn't put my name in the ad." he chuckles nervously.

Tyler's gaze shifts to the table top. "Look, I'm going to get right to the point since I don't want to waste your time here. I only came because of my roommate, well my friend and I promised him I'd meet you but I'm just not looking for anyone right now in that kind of way. The only reason I clicked your ad is because after a few beers my friend somehow talked me into looking through the personals."

Josh's heart sinks. He definitely was right to tell Jenna he wasn't going to get his hopes up. It's a shame. Tyler is quite good looking too he thinks. He's not usually into the shaved head look but he pulls it off really well. He's also got these brown eyes..

"Josh? Did you hear me?"

He snaps out of it. "Oh yeah, sorry. Just thinking. Um, It's okay if you aren't interested. Your friend probably shouldn't be making you do this though if you're not into it."

Tyler huffs out a small laugh. "He has good intentions believe me and I'm not in a position to tell him no, especially because of what he's done for me."

He waits for Tyler to elaborate further but he never does. They place their orders and sit in more awkward silence. "So um do you have any questions or anything at least; you have to be curious."

Tyler looks up from his phone. "I am a little, I just didn't want to be nosy since I'm not, you know, doing this," he says pointing to himself and Josh.

Josh smiles. "That's noble of you but I don't mind."  _Uncomfortable Q & A time has to be better than sitting in silence, _he thinks.

Tyler puts his phone away. "I guess the most obvious question is why are you looking for a husband? What's the rush that you post an ad for one?" His eyes widen as if an epiphany hits him. "You aren't dying or anything, huh?"

Josh laughs a little louder than he intends. "God no, nothing like that." He takes in a nervous breath. "I have to be married for a year to get an inheritance that was left to me.

Tyler raises an eyebrow at him.

"My grandmother had this idea that I should be married and settled down. That's all she ever wanted for me. I guess it was because I was her only grandchild."

"And I'm guessing marriage is obviously not what you wanted." Tyler takes a sip of his water. "How old are you anyway?"

"I turn thirty next month. Same age as you. I'm guessing marriage isn't your thing either?"

Tyler's face twists into a sudden sullen expression and Josh instantly regrets asking that.

"I'm sorry...you don't have to answer that.."

At that moment their food comes and Josh is relieved. Tyler seems to be as well. They both eat in complete silence and honestly Josh is just ready to be done eating and gone asap. Once their plates are cleared, Tyler speaks up. "So why do this then if you don't want to be married? Just for the money? That seems a little.."

"Greedy?" Josh interrupts, smiling. He isn't offended. He knows how this must all seem.

"Well I was going to say extreme.." Tyler smiles back at him. "Marriage is hard work, can't imagine a fake one being any easier. Especially to someone you don't know at all."

Josh hums in agreement as he places enough cash on the table to cover the bill and tip. "It is for my dream so it's worth a shot at trying."

"And is the money you're supposed to pay your fake husband coming from the inheritance too?"

"Yeah. My father is a lawyer and is going to draft a prenup that says how much they will get after the year of marriage."

"So why a year?"

"I don't know, I asked the same thing. I guess my grandmother wanted to make sure the marriage was real and not just for the inheritance."

"She was a smart lady."

"Yeah she was. That's why she set it up to where someone would do random checks on the marriage to make sure it is real. Hence the needing to live together right away. Have to act like we are in love." Josh internally cringes at the very thought of even pretending to be in love.

"So how long do you have to do this since it seems urgent enough to put an ad on Craigslist."

"A month but I was hoping someone would respond this weekend and would meet me at my dad's office and do the prenup Monday and get married next week. Need to have as much time as possible to prepare."

Tyler slouches back in his chair a little and crosses his arms."Wow. I mean best of luck to you. That's going to be a tough sell."

"You aren't lying." Josh says with a sigh.

"So what's this dream of yours anyway?"

"I want to open a music store. Music has been my life as long as I can remember. It's what I've always wanted to do with my life in some way or another."

Tyler looks at him with a look Josh can't quite place but doesn't say anything.

To Josh the silence signals the end of the conversation so he stands up. "I'm going to go ahead and get going. It was nice meeting you."

Tyler shakes his hand. "Yeah you too."

Josh starts to walk away.

"Josh." He turns around and finds Tyler now standing and looking at him. "I'll see you Monday. Just text me when and where."

Josh smiles wide and walks closer. "Really? You're going to do it? Are you sure?"

"Yeah I guess I am." Tyler answers with a shaky voice and equally anxious smile. 

He goes to walk away again but turns back around. "So what made you change your mind?"

Tyler ducks his head a little, rubbing the back of his neck and lets out a sheepish laugh. "I'm just a guy helping another guy out with his dream. And plus I think my friend will kick my ass if I don't."

Josh smiles before turning back towards the door. "I'll see you Monday Tyler."

**

"So is he cute?" Is the first thing Jenna asks him when he walks through her door.

"Nice to see you too." Josh says giving her a peck on the cheek before plopping down on the couch.

"Hmm. Avoidance so that definitely means he is cute."

"Jen..this is strictly a business arrangement. It doesn't matter if he is cute or not."

Jenna gives him a  _yeah right_  look and sits next to him on the couch. "So what's he do for a living?"

"I'm not sure. He seemed a bit uncomfortable talking about himself so I didn't ask him anything. He seems really nice but just shy I guess."

"Last name?"

"I don't know that either."

"Probably won't be the first wedding where the two people don't even know each other's last names."

Josh laughs.

"Actually this is you getting married so nothing shocks me more than that." She slaps his arm teasingly.

"Yeah yeah. Okay enough with the jokes. I'm going to be learning those things Monday. And then I guess everything else about him after."

"Wish I could be a fly on the wall for all of it. For you to even feign interest in someone other than yourself or who isn't in your bed, is a sight to behold I'm sure."

"Hilarious." Josh looks around. "Hey where's Henry at?"

"Evan took him to his parents. They are watching him tonight. Date night." Jenna sqeals, excited.

He rolls his eyes.

"Oh you'll be married soon and will be going on dates too."

Josh scoffs. "I may be getting married but no one said anything about dates or romance and all of that garbage."

Jenna sighs and stands up. "Good luck faking love with that kind of attitude."

Before he can respond Jenna is already walking up the stairs. "I'm going to go sleep until it's time to get ready. I love you but I don't normally get a nap. You can hang out if you want. Evan will be back soon."

Josh stands up and stretches. "Nah I'm going to head home. Going to hit the club tonight or something. Last time to get laid as a single man."

He laughs as Jenna voices her disgust from the top of the stairs.

**

Josh feels his phone vibrate in his pocket as he kisses some guy's neck that he has pinned against the wall in his bedroom.

"Hold on a second." He gets off of the guy and pulls his phone out of his pocket.

> Unknown: My friend wants you to come to our house for dinner tomorrow night. He didn't actually think I'd say yes so he wants to 'check you out.' Sorry. I'll text you the address and the time tomorrow. Just let me know if you can make it or not.

Images of the brown eyed future husband of his certainly don't flash in front of his eyes as he attaches his mouth back onto his conquest for the night.


	3. Forsan miseros meliora sequentur

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those in misery, perhaps better things will follow.  
> -Virgil

Okay, so maybe Josh feels a little weird waking up the next morning. It's totally normal to think about the stranger you are about to marry when you are hooking up with someone, right? Probably not. Nothing about this situation is exactly normal though. The only saving grace of that morning is that he wakes up to an empty bed. Thank goodness for the Uber era, he thinks.

The next morning awkwardness after a hookup is not something he was wanting to deal with on top of everything else today.

Don't think for a second that he forgot about Tyler's text last night. It would be the cause of his constant tossing and turning all night. He isn't quite sure why but he is really nervous. He shouldn't be. It seems silly really with the kind of people he deals with for work that a simple dinner with two guys would render him sleepless. He thinks that he maybe won't be so nervous if he isn't going by himself.

> Josh: Want to join me tonight for dinner?
> 
> Jenna: Maybe. Why?
> 
> Josh: My future husband's friend has insisted that I come to dinner tonight at their house so he can check me out. I don't want to go by myself.
> 
> Jenna: In that case, I wouldn't miss it for the world.
> 
> Josh: I can see the cogs in that pretty little head of your's working and I don't like it.
> 
> Jenna: Moi? I'm offended.
> 
> Josh: Just don't embarrass me, Jen.
> 
> Jenna: Wouldn't dream of it.
> 
> Josh: Sure. I'll text you later when Tyler lets me know the time.

He texts Tyler to let him know he can make it and his friend will be joining him. Tyler texts back the address and to be there at seven. Josh sets his phone down and takes a deep breath. A lot is riding on this dinner. If this friend of Tyler's is anything like Jenna, their opinion means a lot. He knows he has to impress this Mark guy. That's not going to be the easiest thing for Josh. He doesn't have friends other than Jenna and the only people he socializes with are the people at work. He can't exactly breeze through dinner talking like he does to his coworkers.

Mark would hate him for sure.

**

Josh tries to sleep most of the day away. Which just really consists of him laying in bed on the verge of a panic attack the entire day. When he does finally fall asleep, it feels like his alarm clock goes off ten minutes later. "Must be five," he grumbles to himself, getting out of bed and straight into the shower. After his shower he throws on a pair of jeans and a button down shirt, grabs a bottle of wine and heads to Jenna's house. Josh knows it's way too early but he'd rather wait out the rest of the time distracted there than nervously walking around his house.

"Someone's eager," Jenna says opening the door, smiling.

"Jen, I swear I will leave," Josh says walking past her into the house.

"Excuse me, mister sensitive. You're the one here a hour early, so of course I'm going to tease you." Jenna gives him a quick peck on the cheek.

"Funny." He just knows he's going to regret asking her to come tonight.

"Just go ahead and sit. I have to go nurse Henry and put him to bed. I'll be back down in a little while."

Josh sits down on the couch and watches whatever is on the tv, trying to distract himself from the nerves.

"You two are completely insane, you know that right?" Evan says from the recliner. Josh completely forgot he is even there, so he jumps a little at the question.

Josh lets out a nervous laugh. "Unfortunately I do."

"Hey I mean, good luck to you man but this is just weird. I've known you for a long time, this isn't going to end well."

Josh silently groans to himself, preparing for the next thirty minutes of hearing how crazy he is from Evan. He likes him, don't get him wrong, it's just he is alot more of a traditional and straight laced kind of guy with a lot of opinions. Josh gets by with half listening and nodding and thanks god himself when Jenna finally comes down the stairs.

"Okay lets go," she says grabbing her purse and kissing Evan goodbye.

Josh practically runs to the door.

"Evan lecturing you again?" Jenna laughs as she gets into the car.

Josh starts the car up. "Do you even have to ask?" He puts Tyler's address into the GPS. Here goes nothing, he thinks. About fifteen minutes later, they pull up to Tyler's house and park. Josh puts both hands on the steering wheel and lets out a long breath.

Jenna rubs his back. "Honey, it's going to be fine. Just be your normal funny and charming self; it's impossible not to like you."

Josh sucks his bottom lip in and opens the door after grabbing the wine out of the back seat. "Lets hope so or Evan's in for a rude awakening when you are divorcing him to marry me instead." Jenna laughs as they walk to the door and ring the doorbell. A few seconds later Tyler opens the door. Josh awkwardly just stands there and stares at him. Jenna elbows his arm. "Oh right. Hey there again." Josh says, handing the bottle of wine to Tyler.

Tyler smiles and moves out of the way to let them in. "Hi again to you too." He holds out his hand to Jenna. "Hey I'm Tyler."

Jenna scoffs and pulls him into a hug instead. "None of that handshake nonsense. You are about to be family."

"You are right, Josh, he is cute." She says releasing Tyler from her tight hug.

If someone could choke to death on air, Josh would have died right then and there.

Tyler's eyes go wide as a dark blush spreads across his face. "I'm..just going to bring this to the kitchen."

He walks away and Josh turns to Jenna. "What the actual hell is wrong with you?" He whispers.

"Oh you are fine. Did you see the way he blushed? He obviously liked it. You're welcome." Jenna walks away too, leaving Josh to contemplate if he should have even asked her to come at all.

He sighs and follows them both to the kitchen.

Tyler hands the bottle of wine to Mark. "I'm not sure we even have a wine opener." Mark says digging in one of the drawers. "Nope. Sorry. We are more of beer people."

Mark walks over to Jenna and gives her a quick hug and introduction. He holds out his hand when he gets to Josh, looking him over. "You must be Joshua."

"It's Josh," he says as he shakes Mark's hand.

Mark looks suspiciously at him. This reminds Josh a little too much of meeting someone's dad when he was younger before leaving for a date.

Fun.

"Mark be nice." Tyler grabs four beers from the refrigerator and opens them. He hands everyone one. "You guys can go ahead and sit down. Everything is almost ready."

"Can I help with anything?" Josh surprises himself by asking. It isn't without an ulterior motive though; it's better than sitting alone with Mark and Jenna.

"Nah, I have everything covered but thank you," Tyler says without turning around.

Well, he tried at least. Josh and Jenna sit next to each other at the table and Mark sits across from Josh. "So," Mark starts saying after sitting down. "What do you do for a living, Josh?"

"Not wasting any time with the interrogation." Josh smiles and chugs some of his beer. "To put it simply, I manage a few things at my father's law firm."

Mark hums and nods his head, looking somewhat impressed.

"What about you Tyler?" Josh asks, hoping to shift the attention off of himself.

"I teach piano lessons," Tyler answers as he sets the table. "Just a few kids a week but I love it."

Josh perks up at the answer. He won't lie and say that Tyler being musically inclined didn't excite him a little. "So you work from home or a school or something?"

Tyler sets a large bowl of salad and plate of garlic bread on the table. "From home but I don't have to bring my piano when I move in. I can do the lessons here still."

"Please do bring it. My drumset is lonely in the basement." Josh inwardly smacks himself at how weird that sounded.

Tyler smiles as he places a pan of lasagna on the table and sits down. "So you play drums?"

"Not very well." Jenna butts in.

Josh clicks his tongue and fakes a smile. "Yeah but not very well apparently."

Jenna slaps his arm. "I'm just teasing. He's amazing at everything he does." Josh catches her not so subtle wink at Tyler and makes a mental note to never bring her anywhere ever again. The awkward silence of everyone eating is suddenly interrupted by a moan from Jenna. "I consider myself one heck of a cook but this lasagna is amazing."

"All Tyler," Mark says. "He cooks like you wouldn't believe."

"Thank goodness." Jenna points at Josh. "This one can't cook to save his life and his diet is atrocious. College students eat better than he does."

Josh finishes chewing the food in his mouth before answering with a childish retort, "Do not."

"Oh yeah? What did you have for breakfast today?" She asks with a knowing tone in her voice.

"I had coffee... and gummy bears." Josh mumbles the last part.

Tyler laughs really loud and Josh can't help but blush a little.

"So anyway." Mark interrupts. "The two grooms here should get to know each other." He places his elbows on the table and clasps his hands together. "So what's your last name?"

"Dun."

"Joseph," Tyler says right after.

"Criminal record?" Mark continues.

Josh smiles. "Squeaky clean."

"Same."

Mark clears his throat. "But I'm guessing with your dad being a lawyer, he could get you off pretty easily from certain things right?"

It is Jenna's turn to laugh. "Bill would rather let him rot in a jail cell before doing anything like that. He's a bit of a hard ass."

That answer seems to satisfy Mark at least before he's moving on. "So, I know your ad said no sex is required but is that really true?"

Josh almost chokes on a piece of garlic bread but quickly recovers. "I am not looking for sex, trust me."

"He gets more than he should of that," Jenna mumbles as he throws a glare her way.

"This is strictly a business arrangement. I don't expect intimacy on that level, just what I mentioned in the ad. Only what is necessary to fake it. Quite frankly, I'm pretty anti relationship and am not looking for anything more so no worries." Josh looks at Tyler who looks relieved by that. The rest of the dinner is spent with Jenna and Mark taking turns telling embarrassing stories about their best friends, a lot of laughs and things Josh would have preferred never see the light of day again. Jenna insists on helping Tyler clean up after dinner. 

"Where's the bathroom?" Josh asks, standing up from the table.

"Down the hall, first door on the right," Mark answers.

Josh finds himself walking into the bedroom right across from the bathroom after, a picture on the dresser catching his eye. He picks up the picture frame. It's a wedding picture; it's Tyler and a very beautiful woman. Josh almost doesn't recognize him with his full head of fluffy hair and elated smile on his face. His thoughts are interrupted by someone clearing their throat. Josh scrambles to quickly place the picture back on the dresser. "Sorry I.." he tries saying as he turns and sees Mark at the door.

"That's Claire," Mark says, walking closer and stopping when he's face to face with Josh.

"Ex wife?" Josh realises then why Tyler was so against talking about marriage yesterday. Bad break up like his, he figures.

"Not exactly," Mark says with a bit of a pained expression. He seems to hesitate before continuing. "She died four years ago."

Josh feels like all of the air has been sucked from the room. That certainly is not the answer he is expecting at all. "I'm sorry..I didn't know." He manages.

"You wouldn't. Tyler doesn't like talking about it obviously."

"What happened?" Josh can't help himself but ask.

Mark sighs and puts a hand on Josh's shoulder. "That's not my place to say and honestly it's best if you don't bring it up with Tyler. Let him do that in his own time."

"You know," Mark says as he turns and walks away. "This is the most I've seen him smile and laugh in a long time. You might be a good thing for him." Mark stops at the door and turns around, serious look on his face. "Don't make me regret saying that."

Josh just nods. Mark isn't exactly the most intimidating guy in the world but he understands the protective sentiment of it all. He would be the same way about Jenna. A few awkward hugs later and he and Jenna are leaving. Josh tries to avoid Tyler's gaze, not wanting to let on that he knows now about his late wife. Jenna doesn't stop talking about Tyler the whole drive to her house.  She is practically planning their adopted babies as he rolls his eyes. She always was a hopeless romantic, he thinks.

**

And maybe Josh ends the day how he started it, feeling weird and even a little guilty as he lays in bed and types in Claire Joseph Columbus Ohio on his laptop.

Tears stream down his face as he reads the first article he comes across.


	4. Ubi concordia, ibi victoria

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Where there is unity, there is the victory.  
> -Publilius Syrus

Waking up and going to sleep feeling guilty, has quickly become a normal thing for Josh Dun these days it seems. So this morning is no different of course. He sits up and rubs his eyes. They are slightly swollen and blurry. Crying is another thing Josh is not used to. He groans as the last words he read last night play back in his head. Claire _Ann Joseph, 25 of Columbus Ohio, was killed in a single vehicle car accident on hwy._ That's as far as he got last night until he found himself slamming his laptop shut and crying for the next hour before he finally fell asleep.

He truly feels awful for Tyler.

Josh isn't one to get really emotional usually but he likes Tyler, surprisingly a lot. Knowing that he's been through something so tragic just struck him particularly hard he guesses. He begrudgingly gets out of bed and heads to the kitchen to put coffee on. As the coffee brews he sits at the kitchen island and opens the tupperware container on it. It's full of homemade mini blueberry muffins and the lid is adorned with the initials _TJ_. Tyler insisted he bring them home last night so he can have a proper breakfast. Josh rolls his eyes and smiles, grabbing two out of the container and closing it back. He pops a whole one in his mouth and chews happily. That Mark guy wasn't kidding about Tyler's cooking.

Josh could definitely get used to this.

**

Bill pops his head into Josh's office. "What time is your guy supposed to be here?"

"I was actually just about to double check with you and tell him ten. I checked with Denise when I got in earlier and she said your schedule is clear then," Josh says not looking up from his computer.

"Yes ten is fine; he knows all of the information to bring?"

Josh continues typing. "Yes sir. Gave him a list with all of that information last night."

Bill leans against the door frame. "I'm guessing he doesn't have a lawyer on retainer coming as well?"

"Nope." Josh shrugs. "He doesn't exactly make a lot. I'll cover whatever the cost will be to get an associate here to represent him today."

"Alright, I'll try to see who's available at that time." Bill leaves and closes the door behind him and Josh pulls out his phone.

> Josh: Goodmorning. Is 10 a good time for you to come to the office? If not let me know asap so I can try to arrange another time.
> 
> Tyler: Morning. That time works for me.
> 
> Josh: Okay great. If you don't mind, after we are done, I was thinking of ordering take out to my office and we can eat and discuss a few things that need to get done before the wedding.
> 
> Tyler: Sounds good to me. I don't have a lesson until 4.
> 
> Josh: Perfect. I'll see you in a little while.

Josh knows he should ask Jenna for help with the wedding planning but frankly he isn't wanting to deal with that. She will get way too excited and over complicate everything. She just might kill him for not asking her though. He sighs and bites the bullet.

> Josh: Tyler's coming here at 10 for the prenup stuff and then we are doing wedding stuff in my office at lunch. I might need to call you for advice. DON'T start with the squealing and cutesy stuff or I will hang up and not involve you at all.
> 
> Jenna: Okay fine. I promise I won't.
> 
> Josh: You said the same thing last night before dinner though and look how that turned out.
> 
> Jenna: Mhm. Fabulous you mean? You two got to know each other a little at least.
> 
> Josh: Sure. Because he really needed to know about the time I accidentally texted my aunt a nude pic. You're totally right.
> 
> Jenna: Whether you like it or not, knowing embarrassing stories and stupid stuff like that, only makes your "relationship" seem more authentic.

Josh knows she is right. He still doesn't like it one bit though.

**

"Mr. Dun, this is Brenda at the front desk. There's a Mr. Tyler Joseph here to see you."

"Okay send him to my office please." Josh quickly straightens up the clutter on his desk before there's a knock on his door. "Come in." Josh's voice breaks a little from nerves and he mentally kicks himself. His nerves quickly are replaced with slight confusion as Tyler walks into his office pushing the same bicycle from the other day. He can't help but feel like Tyler is a bit of an enigma to him.

It's weird but endearing in a sense.

Josh stands up, smiles and shakes Tyler's hand. "Thanks for coming so early today."

"Yeah, no problem, man." Tyler smiles back and points to the bike. "Where can I put this?"

"Oh, anywhere is fine." Josh clears his throat, grabs his briefcase and walks to the door." Nice day for a bike ride." Tyler throws a weird look his way and hums in agreement before following him out of the door. Like expected, the walk to Bill's office is very quiet and awkward so Josh is all too eager to get there as quickly as possible. He practically speed walks as Tyler trails behind. Josh doesn't even bother checking with the secretary before opening the office door. They walk in and no one's there. Josh walks back through the door to Denise's desk. "Where's Bill?"

"Boardroom. He said to let you know to meet him there. I would have did just that if you would have bothered to check with me," Denise says, not looking up from the magazine in her hands.

"Thanks," he mumbles as they walk by her desk.

"She's a bit..rude."

Josh laughs. "Nah not really but you kind of have to have thick skin and an attitude to deal with working for my dad." He sees Tyler kind of shrink beside him a little at that. "He's not that bad, don't worry." Josh places a hand on his shoulder and gives it a reassuring squeeze before opening the door to the boardroom.

"Josh." Bill stands up and walks over to them. "This must be Mr. Joseph." Bill shakes Tyler's hand and then turns towards the guy sitting at the table. "This is my associate Gavin Turner, he's going to represent you here today. I'm not sure if Josh informed you but it's a conflicting interest if I represent you both and can render the prenuptial agreement invalid."

"Uh sure it's fine," Tyler answers, nervousness in his voice. "I'm just not sure I can afford it."

"It's covered don't worry about it," Bill states as he gesters for Tyler to sit down at the table. "Josh and I are going to give you guys a little while to talk and there's a representation agreement you'll need to sign." Josh and Bill leave out of the office.

"He seems interesting," Bill says as they sit in the chairs on the other side of the hallway.

"Dad, don't start. He's perfectly..." Josh tries saying before Bill interrupts him, throwing his hands up in defense.

"I didn't say anything bad. He's not what I was expecting is all."

Josh huffs. "Well what did you expect? This is a weird situation. I'm lucky I found anyone at all..." Bill cuts him off again with a laugh.

"Son, relax. I meant that in a good way." Bill chuckles some more. "I'm honestly relieved. I was convinced you were going to walk in here with someone twice your age or..."

"Can we just save this conversation for another time?"

Bill let's it go.

A little while later the boardroom door opens. "We are finished," Gavin says, waving them back in as he holds the door for them. Josh sits down next to Tyler. He opens his briefcase, taking out a few stacks of papers. Tyler follows suit and takes his papers out of his backpack.

Bill sits down. "Is everyone ready to get started?" Everyone nods.It takes a couple of hours but everything in the prenup is worked out and they get to adding the financial clause. "Okay... So you both agree on the fact that if the marriage ends before the year is up, no matter the cause, Tyler doesn't get the money.

They both hum and nod in agreement.

"Now, to the amount that will be paid should the marriage last the year."

"Five hundred thousand." Josh speaks up without hesitation.

"Josh.." Bill starts. 

"I said five hundred thousand." He looks at Tyler, who's jaw is practically on the floor. "Look, Tyler is giving up his life for the next year. Not only that, but this is going to be difficult for us both. I think it's only fair for him to get half. This isn't up for debate."

Bill writes on the paper in front of him. "Okay. If that's what you want, I won't argue."

"Josh, I really appreciate that and all but that's too much I can't.."

Josh stops Tyler. "You can and you will. You can donate it all to charity for all I care but that's the amount and that's final."

Tyler throws his hands up in defeat. "If you insist."

"Now that everything is settled. We will get this typed up and you guys can sign it." Bill and Gavin stand up. "Just hang tight and we'll be back soon."

**

"So." Josh sits down at his desk and pulls out a stack of take out menus from one of the drawers. "Any idea what you may want to order?" He starts flipping through them. "We have pizza, chinese, Jimmy John's.."

"Pizza is fine." Tyler sits down in a chair in front of his desk.

"Pizza it is." Josh smiles and takes out his phone to make the order.  "Pepperoni fine?"

Tyler nods. "Oh, can you add extra cheese too."

Josh orders and then places his phone on the desk before grabbing a notepad and pen. "Well we have thirty minutes before lunch is here so we might as well get started on the wedding plans."

He presses Jenna's number in his phone. "We may need Jenna's help with a list of things we need to do since I have no clue."

"Hey." Jenna answers whispering. "I'm in Henry's room. He just went down for a nap. Hold on, let me leave out."

Josh puts her on speaker and sets his phone back down. He mouths "Sorry in advance" to Tyler and playfully rolls his eyes.

"Okay I'm downstairs. How much have you guys done?"

Josh eyes the empty page. "Well we ordered lunch."

That earns a laugh from Tyler.

"Men." Jenna mutters. "Okay, you need a location, flowers, photographer, reception location, food, cake and someone to officiate the wedding.

Both Josh and Tyler look at each other with wide eyes and looks of being completely overwhelmed on their faces.

"Alright, we will get working on that. I'll call you if we need anything else. Thank you Jen. Love you." He hangs up quickly before she can object.

"Wow. That's alot." Tyler rubs a hand over his face and sighs.

"Shit I know." Josh sighs as well. "I guess let's start with the easiest stuff first. "Um photographer?"

Tyler's face lights up. "Mark. We can get him to do it. He dabbles in photography and he's really good actually. Best of all he'll do it for free."

"You had me a free. Mark it is." Josh smiles and writes that down.

Josh taps the pen on the notepad. "What next..cake?"

"Man, real wedding cakes take a long time. I'm not sure we have time for that. You usually have to order them way ahead.."

"You're right. Might have to just nix the wedding cake and get a regular cake from a bakery. That will have to do."

Tyler speaks up before Josh can write that down. "I'll make the cake."

Josh's head flies up. "What? Do you even know how to make a wedding cake? That seems a bit ambitious."

Tyler smiles. "I love baking and I actually learned last year how to make fondant so I think I can make a decent small three tier cake that looks good enough for the pictures."

"I mean if you're sure it's not too much work?"

"I can handle it."

Josh bites his bottom lip. "You know Jenna is probably going to insist on helping with it so are you really sure?"

"I think I can handle Jenna too."

Josh laughs. "You might regret saying that but I guess you might as well get used to her as soon as possible." He taps her number. "Like ripping a bandaid off." he lowly mumbles to himself.

"Need me already?" The voice on the other end answers.

Josh sighs. "Want to help or not Jen?"

"Go on."

"Tyler's making the wedding cake.."

She cuts him off. "I'm definitely helping with that."

Josh gives Tyler an _I told you so_ look. "Fine. Do you think Tasi would do the reception? That would take care of the location for that and the food. It won't be alot of people anyway."

"I don't see why not. Let me go ahead and call them for you and see. Wait, what day are you guys doing this?"

Josh looks at Tyler and shrugs. "Friday?"

Tyler just shrugs back.

"Okay. I'll call and see what they can do. I'll text you when I'm done."

Josh's phone rings in the office. "It's Brenda at the front desk again, your pizza is here."

Josh tells her to send them to his office. "Thank goodness. I don't know about you, but I'm starving." He pulls two paper plates, cups and some napkins from a drawer. He's met with Tyler raising a brow at him. "What? Okay fine, I order in a lot." Josh sets a plate, cup and a few napkins in front of Tyler. "I'm busy sometimes and don't always have time to leave."

"You don't have to explain yourself to me. I'm not your mom." Tyler gets up to answer the knock on the door. He pays the delivery guy and sets the pizza down on the desk. "Just don't expect to eat like this when I move in. I like to pack lunches. Probably will be the thing Mark will miss the most about living with me."

Josh honestly doesn't know how to answer that but between the lasagna and the muffins, he really can't complain about it. They eat and chat about random stuff. Mostly just eat in silence. It's a comfortable silence unlike the other day eating lunch at the cafe. In the middle of eating Jenna calls Josh. "They said they can do it but need to know how many people."

"Well it will be mom, dad, you, Evan, Mark, Tyler, myself... hold on a sec." He looks up at Tyler. "Anyone else you want to invite? Parents, siblings?"

Tyler shakes his head no.

"That's it I think. I don't want to invite anyone else in the family because I don't know who the other co-executor is and that wouldn't be too good if they happened to be there."

"Okay I'll just round it up and tell them ten people just in case. I'll set up a dish, appetizer, drinks and stuff. I'll set up a time too. The wedding will probably be early evening so six for the time?"

"Sounds good. Just get the cost and let me know. Thanks, hun." Once they finish, Josh cleans up the desk and puts the notepad back on it. "Okay, what do we have left." He eyes the list and is pleasantly surprised by how much that got done so quickly. "Flowers. What's your favorite?"

Tyler takes a sip of his drink. "Roses. Any color. I like them all."

Josh writes that down. "Roses are easy." He scans over the paper again. "Okay all that's left is the location and the officiant."

Tyler pulls out his phone and holds up a finger indicating Josh to hold on a second. After a couple of minutes he looks up from his phone. "Usually a justice of the peace will be willing to travel for a small fee to a location to officiate. So that shouldn't be hard to set up on short notice."

Josh smiles. "Alright, so that just leaves the hardest one. The location. I honestly have no idea where to start with that one."

His gaze meets an equally confused Tyler. "A church on such short notice is out so I don't know either."

Josh turns his chair to the computer. "Maybe start with _wedding locations in Columbus_ online?" He types it in as Tyler moves his chair to sit behind the desk, next to Josh. They spend the next hour scrolling through locations and making phone calls with no luck. Everywhere seems to be booked. _Summer weddings are popular_  is a common phrase they hear over and over. Josh is starting to freak out a little bit thinking that they may end up having to just do this in someone's back yard or something.

Tyler checks his phone. "Damn, I need to get going. My lesson is in a hour." He puts on his backpack and grabs his bike. "We'll figure something out. We just may need to think outside the box and pick a non traditional location."

"Tyler." Josh says before he gets all the way out of the door. "Is it okay if I call you tonight or something so we can maybe brainstorm together?"

Tyler smiles wide. "Yeah that sounds good. Smart thinking."

Tyler leaves out and Josh realises he is still smiling. "What the hell is wrong with you. You're acting like a goober, man." He mumbles to himself.

**

That night Josh sits at the kitchen island with his laptop and the notepad from his office. He reads over the list and when he gets to the flowers, he almost forgets to breathe. "Shit, how did I forget about that?" He quickly types out _Columbus Park of Roses_ on his laptop. "This is perfect." The woman who owns the park is a close family friend so he's pretty confident she will do it for them.

He pulls out his phone and hits Tyler's number.

Tyler answers after a couple of rings. "Hello?"

"I've got the perfect location. You're going to love it."


	5. Aspirat primo fortuna labori

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fortune smiles upon our first effort.  
> -Virgil

Josh wakes up feeling kind of happy for the first time in a few days. He is a little tired from talking on the phone with Tyler for a few hours last night though. Tyler really seemed to love the wedding location idea and practically squealed looking up pictures while Josh smiled on the other side of the phone. They made plans to go to the courthouse at lunch today to get the marriage license. Jenna set them up an appointment to get fitted for tuxedos that afternoon as well.

**

The anticipation of everything happening today has made the time pass extremely slow for Josh. It's been hard to concentrate on anything at all. He even almost misses an important meeting that morning, so he's mire than relieved when it's finally lunch time and he's on his way to the courthouse. He's ready to get this over with. When he arrives, Tyler is already there outside waiting for him. Josh approaches him on the top of the steps. "No bike today?" He teases.

Tyler smiles softly. "I took an Uber. A bit far for me to ride." 

They start walking to the door and Josh holds it open for Tyler. "You should have called me, I would have picked you up."

"Well it didn't make much sense for you to have to come all of the way to my house and then across town again."

Josh laughs. "You're at least letting me bring you home then."

"Fine, but you have to stay for lunch." Tyler hooks his arm around Josh's as they walk to the clerk of courts office. "I made an amazing curry last night that you have to try."

Josh doesn't expect the contact and looks at Tyler, confused.

Tyler unhooks their arms but his smile doesn't falter. "Oh, I'm sorry. I thought maybe we would seem like a normal couple walking in.."

Josh smiles back. "It's fine but we don't have to pretend here. Just getting a marriage license." They reach the clerk's office. "And of course, I'll gladly take you up on your lunch offer. Your cooking is amazing. He definitely doesn't miss the light dusting of pink on Tyler's cheeks now. When they walk through the door, Josh recognizes the woman behind the counter.

Shoot.

He quickly grabs Tyler's hand and leans in to whisper to him. "That woman knows my family, so I guess we maybe do need to pretend here just in case. Tyler just gives his hand a quick squeeze in response.

"Josh," The woman says, smiling, as they approach the counter. "What can I help you with?"

Josh takes a deep breath and wills himself to not sound so nervous. "We are here to get a marriage license." His voice cracks a little but it doesn't seem to go noticed, thankfully. 

The woman's face lights up. "Oh, Josh I had no idea you were getting married. Your mom never mentioned anything." She squints her eyes slightly at them both in confusion.

"Well...I...it's...a." Shit. He doesn't even know how to answer that. Josh really just wants to turn around and run.

"We didn't exactly tell our families how serious things were until recently." Tyler speaks up, sounding surprisingly confident in his answer.

The woman smiles again at Josh. She seems satisfied and doesn't press more. Josh internally sighs a breath of relief. Thank goodness for Tyler's quick thinking, he thinks.

She looks back over at Tyler. "So you must be the lucky fiance..."

"Tyler Joseph."

"As in Chris and Kelly Joseph's, Tyler?"

Josh feels Tyler stiffin next to him. "We are in a bit of a hurry, hun. On our lunch breaks.."

Tyler looks at him, saying thank you with his eyes.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hold you boys up." The woman walks to a filing cabinet and pulls out two papers from it. She hands them each one. "Go ahead and get these filled out. If you have any questions, just let me know." It doesn't take them but a few minutes to fill out the forms. The woman walks back to the counter. "Okay so just leave your birth certificates, Driver's licenses and proof of divorce if you've been married before on top of each of your papers."

Josh and Tyler both leave everything needed and sit down in the chairs across from the counter. "You kind of saved our asses," Josh whispers.

"Well you saved my butt too," Tyler whispers back. "Does this lady know everyone?"

Josh lowly laughs. "Pretty much." He runs a hand through his hair and sighs. "Carol here is going to make sure everyone in Columbus knows Joshua Dun is getting married by the end of the day."

"Okay, boys. Here's your information back and here's your marriage license."

"Well we better get going." Josh puts the papers in his briefcase. "It was nice seeing you again, Carol."

He quickly grabs Tyler's hand again and pulls them out of the room before she can bombard them with questions again.

Once they get into Josh's car Tyler turns to him. "Maybe we need to come up with a basic story about how we met. How long we've been together." Tyler clicks his seatbelt. "You know, stuff like that so we aren't caught off guard anymore."

Josh hums in agreement as he starts the car.

**

Josh sits at the table when they get to Tyler's house. "Do you have a pen and paper? We should probably write down everything."

"Yeah, hold on a sec." Tyler grabs a small notepad and pen off of the coffee table and hands it to Josh. "Mind if I turn on a little music while I get our lunch heated up?"

Josh just waves a hand at him to go ahead. A few seconds later he hears  _Hakuna Matata_  playing from the kitchen and laughs. "Tyler?"

"Yeah?"

Josh looks his way and raises an eyebrow at him. "Is that the song from that Lion King movie?"

"Mhm." Tyler smiles at him. "It's my favorite movie."

"When you were a kid, surely?" Josh asks.

Tyler puts two glasses of water on the table. "Then and now." He walks back into the kitchen. "I just love everything about it is all."

Josh doesn't know what to say. He can only watch Tyler, curiously. He isn't quite like anyone he's ever met before. If it weren't for Mark insinuating that Tyler usually isn't this happy, Josh would be convinced he is about to marry Mary Poppins. He clears his throat. "So what other kind of music do you like besides singing worthogs?"

Tyler laughs as he sets their plates on the table. "I like a little bit of everything really." He sits down across from Josh and smiles at him sweetly. "But I guess I like singing worthogs the most."

"So," Josh says in between bites, pen in hand. Where did we meet?"

"Tasi, two years ago. You were there, I was there. It was really busy so we were sat together at the only available table." Tyler takes a sip of his water. "Makes sense as to why the reception is there too I think."

Josh writes that down. "Very cheesy but I guess that's better than what I was going to say."

"And that was what?"

"Josh smiles awkwardly. "Grindr." After a few minutes of non-stop laughter they finish lunch. "I'll see you at five, Tyler," Josh's says walking to the door. "Thank you for lunch. It was delicious."

"You're welcome. See you later." Tyler smiles and closes the door.

Josh walks to his car smiling. He smiles almost all the way back to work until he realises he is and mentally face palms himself. He'd really like to stop doing that so much.

**

Josh is waiting in the shop when Tyler and Jenna walk in. "Jen, what are you doing here?" He eyes the pair, confused.

"Well, Jenna is my ride." Tyler speaks up.

Josh furrows his eyebrows at them and puts his hands on his hips, even more confused. "Wait...what? How do you even? What?"

Jenna laughs. "Calm down, Joshua. We exchanged numbers the other night at dinner." Jenna passes him and heads straight to the tuxs. "And did you really think I was going to miss this?"

"Don't know what I was thinking," Josh mumbles under his breath as he walks to where they both are now. A little while later, Josh plops down on a seat, exhausted after trying on what feels like every single suit in there. Suddenly he jumps at loud shrieking across the shop.

"Josh, get your butt over here!" He hears Jenna yell.

Hegroans and stands up. These two are going to kill me, he thinks.

He gets to them and sees Jenna holding up a white tux and a light pink vest. "So whatcha think?"

Josh's eyes go wide. "Uh I'm thinking that's going to be a no from me."

"But why?" Jenna whines. "It will match the pink roses."

"Well it's pink and I don't wear pink." He looks at Jenna who leans in and whispers something in Tyler's ear.

They both turn to him, bottom lips poking out in a pout. "Please?" They both say in unison.

Josh pinches the bridge of his nose. "Fine." He snatches the clothes out of Jenna's hands. He knows it's no use in even trying to argue with her.

**

The next two days are non-stop busy for all three of them. It is alot of work getting a small wedding together in basically no time. An impossible task for most people. But Jenna is not most people and with her help, everything gets done right on time.

Josh is pretty sure it's a world record or something.

**

It's Friday morning, the day of the wedding. Josh Dun would like to say he got eight blissful hours of sleep last night, but that would be far from the truth. He wonders if Tyler tossed and turned all night as well. Wedding day jitters is not something Josh ever thought he'd have. Hell, until a week ago, a wedding was not even in the cards for him. No time for cold feet now. He gets out of bed and walks to his dresser, unplugging his phone from the charger. He sees a text on it.

> Tyler: Morning. Hope you got better sleep than I did. Haha Mark is going to take pictures of us getting ready so don't get dressed until we get there. Jenna said all wedding pictures have those now. Idk.

Josh smiles and sets his phone back down. He's glad he isn't the only nervous one. He drinks a cup of coffee and gets into the shower, forgoing breakfast. He's not sure his stomach can handle food right now. He braces himself with his hands on the shower wall and head ducked under the shower head. These are his last few hours as a single man and he can't quite wrap his head around that thought. Josh walks back into his bedroom, towel around his waist and grabs his phone.

> Josh: Would it be the worst thing if I cancel?
> 
> Jenna: Joshua William Dun, I love you, you know that right? But after the week of hell getting this wedding together, I will personally skin you alive if you do that. Got it? Good. See you in a few hours.

Well Josh is definitely getting married today. Jenna is going to make sure as heck somebody is.

**

Four hours later and there's a knock on the door. Josh opens it and almost wants to close it immediately by the smile on Jenna's face. At least Tyler looks normal and Mark looks like he'd rather be just about anywhere but there.

Same, Mark, same, Josh thinks.

Jenna stops and pecks his cheek. "Hello groom number two." She walks past him, garmet bags in hand.

Josh awkwardly waves at Tyler as he walks in. "Hi." Tyler just smiles shyly and walks past him, following Jenna.

"Sup, man," Josh says to Mark as he walks in. Mark just eyes him and follows the other two. "Okay, nice to see you too." Josh closes the door and makes his way to his bedroom where everyone else now is.

Jenna lays one of the bags on the bed and hands the other one to Tyler. "I'm going to show Tyler where the guest room is so he can get ready. Mark will shoot him first and then come and do yours. Need to make it seem like you are both in different locations.Traditionally you aren't even supposed to see each other until the wedding."

"Noted," Josh says as they leave the room.

He walks over to the bed and unzips the garmet bag, pulling the suit out. Josh sighs as he lays it on top of the bag. A minute later Jenna walks in. "Hey, need to talk to you a second about something before they finish up." Jenna sits on the bed and pats the side next to her.

"About.." Josh sits down and looks at her.

"Look, it's nothing to freak out about because he's assured me he can when he is ready but that won't be today.."

"Jenna, will you stop rambling and get to the point."

She slaps his thigh. "Well if you let me finish I was just doing that."

"Ouch," Josh mutters, rubbing his leg.

"He's never kissed a guy before and he's really nervous about it. He knows he is bisexual but he just doesn't want that first particular kiss in front of everyone, you know?" Jenna looks at Josh.

Josh chews his thumb nail for a few seconds before answering. "Well I mean, a kiss is part of the wedding ceremony but it's not a real wedding anyway so I guess that part doesn't really matter."

Jenna smiles at him. "I told him he had nothing to worry about, that my Joshua is a sweetheart." She stands up. "I'm going to go check on them."

How could Josh be mad about that? He knows that was a mentioned requirement to this plan but it doesn't have to be today. He really can't believe that he will be the first guy Tyler kisses. He suddenly feels his stomach do a small flip; he writes it off as just being hungry though. 

A few minutes later Mark walks in. "Okay let's get this shit show on the road."

He scoffs and starts undressing down to his boxers and white undershirt. "For someone who answered the ad in the first place, you seem to not be happy about this."

Josh swears he sees Mark crack a small smile. "Listen, if I really didn't want Tyler doing this, he wouldn't be doing it." Mark holds his camera up as Josh starts putting on the suit. "I like you so far but that doesn't mean I completely trust you yet."

Josh looks at him. "I get it and all but you don't have to be so rude. I have no intention of hurting your friend."

Mark snaps a few more pictures. "Well we'll see won't we."

He rolls his eyes and finishes getting dressed. He leaves the bedroom and walks into the living room. His eyes land on Tyler first, who's standing next to Jenna, helping her pin up her hair. Josh can't help but just stare. He can't lie and say Tyler Joseph isn't nice to look at. He's happy in that moment that if he has to have a pretend husband, he's glad it's him.

Not just for his looks either.

Jenna must catch Josh's gaze. "Josh, you may want to wipe the drool off of your chin."

Tyler now looks at him too. Josh can't help but blush a little at being caught staring. "I'm just going to go..um..yeah." Josh walks back to his room. He needs to grab his phone anyway. He waits for the red on his face to go away before walking back out. "Phone." He says holding it up.

Jenna just gives him a _yeah right_ look. "Okay, the limo is going to be here in about ten minutes."

Josh had rented a small limo for the evening and night. Nothing too big or fancy. Just enough for them all to fit in. His parents and Evan should have already been picked up. His house is the last stop before the park.

**

Josh is the last one to get into the limo. He gets in and sits next to Tyler. Jenna looks at them both and smiles. "Now let's go get you two handsome boys married."


	6. Serva me, servabo te

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Save me and I will save you.  
> -Petronius Arbiter

So here is a scene playing out that Joshua William Dun never pictured happening before today. He's currently in a limo, sitting in between his best friend and his husband to be, on his way to get married. Jenna keeps patting his leg and smiling at him. His dad is talking to Evan. His mom is chatting with Tyler and Mark is looking through pictures on his camera. Everything feels like it's going in slow motion for Josh though.

"Josh..sweetie?" Jenna shakes his arm. "You look a little pale. You okay?"

Josh turns his head slowly towards her, only barely catching what she says. "Oh..uh..Just a little dizzy. I didn't eat anything today."

Jenna doesn't say anything but opens her purse and pulls out a Ziploc bag with cookies in it. "Here, eat. Don't need you passing out on us before we even get there."

Josh takes the bag from her and grabs a cookie from it. He doesn't realise how hungry he is until he takes the first bite. He practically inhales the rest of it. He turns to Tyler, holding up the bag of cookies. "These are incredible. How did you learn to bake so good?"

Tyler just gives him a  _what the heck are you talking about_ look.

Before Josh can say anything, the bag is being snatched from his hands by Jenna. "I swear, Joshua. One week and a few meals and you completely forget I cook really good too." She huffs and puts the cookies back in her purse.

Josh smiles and throws his hands up playfully in defense. "Geez sorry." He places an arm around her shoulders and side hugs her. "Can I have another one please?"

Jenna rolls her eyes and gives him one.

"Here." Josh breaks it in half and hands a piece to Tyler. "I'm sure you haven't eaten too much today either."

"I had plenty." He takes a bite and chews. "But I wouldn't miss a chance to try Jenna's baking."

Josh feels an arm reach across the back of his neck and sees Jenna rub Tyler's shoulder. "Oh, you are my new favorite person."

"Good riddance." Josh mumbles as he eats his half.

"I heard that."

Josh ignores her and turns to Tyler. "I was thinking we could do the wedding pictures first before the ceremony. That way we'll have some time to rest before the reception. What do you think?" 

Tyler seems to muse over the question for a second before asking Mark. They all agree to go ahead with that plan just as they arrive at the park. One by one they file out of the limo and walk into the parks entrance. Josh focuses only on Tyler, who is grinning from ear to ear as they walk in, a child-like look of awe on his face. He seems to be taking in everything in his field of vision like it's a dream. He can't help but smile, himself. Doing something completely unselfish for someone else is not something he can say he does often. Mainly because he doesn't get the chance, really.

He doesn't know why, but he likes making Tyler smile. Josh catches up to Tyler with a short sprint. "So what do you think?"

Tyler playfully rolls his eyes. "It's just awful." He looks over at rows of rose bushes they are passing. "Who loves beautiful roses everywhere? Completely disgusting."

"Funny." Josh bumps his shoulder lightly into Tyler's. 

Suddenly Mark cuts in between them. "If you two are done flirting, I'd like to get started on the pictures. Jenna says we only have the officiant for two hours."

Josh scoffs and falls back, following behind everyone else now. Josh Dun doesn't flirt with anyone. Flirting means effort and potentially liking someone. That's something else he doesn't do, like someone. He's just being friendly is all.

Mark stops everyone at a white gazebo. "Okay, this is a good place to start." He holds his camera and looks expectantly at Josh and Tyler. "Well, I'm not here to shoot ghosts, get up there."

Josh and Tyler both walk inside the gazebo.

Josh looks at Tyler with a  _what exactly are we supposed to do look_. They kind of just stand shoulder to shoulder and look at Mark.

Mark lowers his camera. "What are you doing? This looks like a bad prison visit photo or something. You're supposed to be in.."

Jenna walks into the gazebo. "Just.." She says positioning them facing each other, holding hands and foreheads pressed to each other's. "There, don't move. That's perfect."

Josh sucks in a breath. "This is so awkward." He says, trying not to move his lips too much.

Tyler stifles a laugh, doing the same. "That's an understatement, honestly."

"You have to look each other in the eyes. You're not in love with the ground, boys." Jenna says loudly from the walkway.

Josh rolls his eyes before setting them onto Tyler's eyes. He has to admit. It's a better view than the ground.

Mark lowers his camera. "Got it. Let's move on."

Josh stands up straight and let's out a breath he didn't know he was holding.

Everyone follows Jenna, who does a little happy dance when she finds the next location. "Oh gosh this is perfect with your suits."

It's a small concrete bench in front of pink roses, with white roses on both sides of the bench.

"Jen..this is pretty and everything but this bench is really small. How are we both supposed to both fit?"

Josh doesn't like the way Jenna smiles. "Well you sit down." She says, grabbing Josh by the arm and sitting him down. She grabs Tyler by the arm as well. "And you are going to sit on his lap."

Josh just stares at her, mouth open, unable to speak as she sits Tyler on his lap. He looks at Mark who is looking at the scene with an eyebrow raised and a shake of his head. He kind of likes this Mark guy more and more.

"Alright, Tyler you shift a bit sideways to the left and put your legs on the side of Josh's." Jenna helps maneuver Tyler. "Josh you put your arms around Tyler and you both look at each other."

Josh wraps his arms around Tyler. Tyler looks like this isn't bothering him too much. He's pretty sure it's just a confident facade though.  _God this can't get anymore awkward than this_ , Josh thinks.

"Now Tyler, lean in almost all of the way, like you're gonna kiss him. But stop right before your lips touch."

Josh was wrong, very wrong. Now, Josh would never curse in front of his mother, but he surely wouldn't mind telling Jenna a few choice words right about now. Tyler leans in, lips ghosting his. Josh involuntarily tightens his the grip around Tyler's waist. He finds himself gulping and breathing a little hard. Tyler's warm breath is on his lips. He really wouldn't mind..

"Okay, got it." Mark says, making Josh snap out of it.

Tyler smiles at him but doesn't seem to be moving. "Josh?"

"Huh?"

The smile on Tyler's face gets even wider. "I can't move if you don't let me go." He says in a whisper.

Josh hadn't realized he still has his arms around Tyler. He wants to kick himself. He lets go. "Sorry, zoned out for a sec."

Tyler smirks at him, almost knowingly, and stands up.

A few more locations, with thankfully no more super awkward poses, and a couple of group pictures and they are done. Everyone makes their way to the roped off area for the wedding ceremony. It's a wooden arch with vines of flowers intertwined with the lattice. Behind the arch is a small fenced in area where there are a few white folding chairs set up. The officiant and the park owner are sitting on the wooden bench next to the arch when they walk up.

After introductions the owner starts talking to Josh. "I just couldn't believe it when your dad called me earlier this week saying you were getting married. It feels like it was just yesterday that you were running around in diapers." She rubs his arm. "And now here you are." She pulls Josh and Tyler both into a hug. "I just wanted to say congratulations." She lets go and backs up and Josh notices she has tears in her eyes. "You two make a gorgeous couple. I wish you guys many, many years of happiness ahead of you."

Tyler whispers to him when she walks away. "She is very sweet but she might be a little heartbroken over the divorce in a year though."

They both laugh, quietly.

Everyone but Mark sits down. Josh and Tyler stand under the arch, facing each other and holding hands.

The officiant starts reciting the usual ceremony commentary. Josh really isn't paying attention. The whole moment is completely surreal to him. Standing in front of the man he is now almost married to.

Josh feels the same dizziness he felt in the limo slowly start to creep back up. 

Tyler must notice because with hands still cupped onto his, he gently rubs Josh's hands with his thumbs and gives him a reassuring smile. He mouths  _breathe_  to him.

Josh briefly closes his eyes and breathes in through his nose before slowly exhaling and opening his eyes again.

"Please repeat after me." The officiant says. "I, Josh take you, Tyler."

Josh looks into Tyler's eyes, trying to just focus on him and not the sudden sniffles he hears from the chairs. "I, Josh take you, Tyler."

_"To be my husband."_

"To be my husband." Josh repeats.

_"To have and to hold, from this day forward;"_

"To have and to hold, from this day forward;" Josh's voice gets a little shaky but doesn't waver too much. 

_"For better, for worse. For richer, for poorer._

"For better, for worse. For richer, for poorer."

_"In sickness and in health. To love and to cherish."_

In sickness and in health. To love and to cherish."

_"Till death do us part."_

Josh internally winces at that. "Till death do us part."

Tyler repeats his portion of the same vows.

"May we have the rings please?" The officiant asks.

Jenna quickly walks up to them and hands them their rings. Josh can tell she's been crying and wants to rolls his eyes.

The damn sap.

With rings on and vows spoken the officiant speaks again. "By the authority committed onto me as a justice of the peace, according to the law of the State of Ohio, I declare that Josh and Tyler, are now husband and husband. You may seal your love with a kiss."

Tyler glances at him nervously, bottom lip tucked under his teeth. Josh holds up the hand he is still holding and brings it to his mouth.

He places a very soft kiss on the top of his hand.

Tyler's nervous expression instantly turns soft and he smiles.

Everyone stands up and starts clapping. A few whistles and tearful words coming from Jenna as well, of course. Josh and Tyler make their way to the small group. Everyone exchanges congratulatory hugs and words. Josh thinks it's absolutely silly. This isn't even a real wedding. They join the officiant, bent over one of the chairs, to sign the wedding license. Josh hesitates for a second. He knows once he signs this, it's real and there really is no going back. He quickly scribbles his name before he changes his mind.

Jenna and Mark sign it as the two witnesses.

**

The fifteen minute ride from the park to the reception is a little more relaxing than the ride to the wedding was earlier. Everyone is a bit hyper and chatty though. Tyler turns to Josh. "I can't believe we really just did that. We are crazy, right?"

"That's a good word for it." Josh laughs and sighs. "Look, I haven't said this yet but thank you for doing this. Thank you so much."

Tyler's face turns a little pink. "No problem, man. I'll marry you anytime."

 _What's that even mean_ , Josh thinks as Tyler turns and talks to Mark. He can feel his own face grow a little warmer. He had to marry a confusing one.

**

Josh is impressed with how beautiful this small little restaurant looks as they walk in.  
Jenna really did well. It's cozy and not too overdone.

They chose to do dinner and drinks first. The first dance and cake cutting will follow after.

"This is amazing." Tyler says as they start eating. 

Josh chews and hums in agreement.

Just before everyone is finished eating, Josh sees Jenna stand up. She holds her glass of champagne in her hand and clinks a fork against it.

He quickly tries to chew the food in his mouth while sending her a death glare. She would pick the moment he is chewing to do this so he couldn't stop her.

She clears her throat. "I know a wedding toast isn't really needed here but I never truly thought I'd get the chance to do this. To toast my best friend, my platonic soul mate, one third of my heart, the biggest pain in my ass but god knows I would die for him..My Joshua."

Jenna's voice cracks and Josh prays to himself that she doesn't start crying. "We met in the cafeteria at school in the fifth grade. Josh saw me being pushed around by this loser who used to bully me. He walked over and stood in front of me. He told the guy to walk away before he had to hurt him. Josh totally got his ass kicked but I've loved him since."

Everyone at the table laughs and she continues talking for what feels like forever to Josh. 

"Okay, I'll wrap this up. Tyler, welcome to the family, babe. Even if this is fake, you couldn't have married a better man." Jenna raises her glass up and everyone else raises theirs as well. "I love you both."

Josh downs his glass of champagne as she sits back down and immediately pours another glass.

He decides right then and there he isn't spending the rest of this night sober. He looks over at Tyler, who seems to have the same idea as he is downing his too.

Smart guy. 

With dinner done and a few drinks in them both, it is time for their dance.

Josh really doesn't want to do it but Jenna insisted that they should have pictures and video of it. He isn't much of a dancer. Well maybe if you count grinding behind someone in a club as dancing. 

Josh takes Tyler by the hand and pulls him onto the small makeshift dance floor. Tyler places his free hand on his shoulder while Josh places his on Tyler's waist.

Just then  _Can you feel the love tonight_ starts playing over the speakers.

Tyler's whole face lights up in disbelief as they start moving in sync, doing a generic slow step. "You didn't! Did you really pick a song from The Lion King?"

Josh tries to not smile. "It isn't the singing worthog version but I thought you'd appreciate it anyway."

Tyler still looks stunned. "It's perfect." He smiles at him. "I'm just glad I didn't say my favorite movie is Toy Story or something.  I don't think  _You've got a friend in me_ would have been as nice to slow dance to."

Josh laughs. "Well, Jenna wanted  _Death of a bachelor_ and I had to fight her on that."

Tyler laughs loudly. "Wow and you actually won out on that? Even with only knowing her a week, I know that was no easy feat."

"You're a fast learner." Josh dips Tyler and pulls him back up. "You may yet survive her."

He notices Mark is motioning for them to get closer together. So Josh pulls Tyler in closer, now cheek to cheek. 

It's a bit uncomfortable so Josh finds himself singing lowly. "And can you feel the love tonight. It's where we are. It's enough for this wide eyed wanderer, that we got this far."

He feels Tyler smile against his cheek. "You have a lovely voice."

Before Josh can thank him, he hears muffled crying and looks over at the table. Jenna and his mom are huddled up together watching them, crying into their napkins.

Josh groans.

**

Josh is beyond happy to be back in the limo a hour and a half later, heading home. It's been a mentally and physically exhausting day. Combine that with the lack of sleep from last night and the champagne, and he's just ready to climb into his bed and go to sleep. The limo pulls up to his house and Josh says his goodbyes before getting out. He doesn't have time to close the door because he sees Tyler being shoved out of it by Jenna.

She closes the door and rolls down the window. "It's your honeymoon. You aren't spending it apart." She slightly slurs. Jenna hangs halfway out of the window as the limo starts the pull off. "Have fun!" She yells as she's being pulled back in by Evan.

Josh and Tyler watch the car disappear down the street, mouths agape. "What just happened?" Josh asks as he starts walking to his door.

"I have no idea." Tyler answers, shrugging. "Look, I can just call Mark and have him pick me up when he gets home if you want?"

Josh is too buzzed to really care. "Nah, it's fine. You can sleep in the guest room. I'm sure Mark is beat too." They will be spending the weekend moving Tyler in so it seems ridiculous to care about him staying the night anyway. He unlocks the door and throws his suit jacket onto the couch as soon as they walk in. "God, it feels good to be home." Josh yawns and stretches before walking towards the hallway. "Come on, I'll get you some clothes."

Tyler follows him into his bedroom. "Do you prefer like sweat pants or want a pair of basketball shorts or something?"

"Shorts are fine."

Josh hands Tyler the clothes. "Sorry. This is probably the lamest honeymoon in history." 

Tyler yawns now too. "Dude, I'm just ready to go to bed and sleep until Monday. This past week has been exhausting." 

Josh changes and goes to the bathroom to brush his teeth. 

When he leaves out, Tyler is standing in the doorway of his bedroom. "Josh?"

Josh stops in front of Tyler. "Yeah?"

"The park...the song... I can't believe you did that all just for me. That was really sweet."

Josh's heart starts to beat faster as he sees Tyler step closer to him. "Tyler what are you.." he tries to finish but soon a pair of lips are on his cheek, just missing the corner of his mouth.

Josh's eyes close and he feels the hair on his arms stand up as Tyler whispers to him, soft lips still pressed to his skin. "Thank you." Tyler pulls away. "Goodnight." He says softly, turning around, walking to the guest room.

He runs his fingers over his cheek and smiles.

**

Josh goes to bed that night and falls asleep quickly with his face still tingling where the kiss was and his husband asleep in the other room.


	7. Omne initium novum alio initio est ab aliquo fine est scriptor

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end.  
> -Seneca

So maybe Josh wakes up barely remembering much from the reception. Of course he remembers a few things. The dance, the crying and last but not least, when Jenna decided to smash cake on his face when Tyler didn't want to. He's pretty sure he still has fondant in his hair. One thing he definitely didn't forget was the goodnight moment with Tyler last night and the kiss on the cheek. He instantly feels his face heat up at the memory. Thankfully the smell of something cooking, brings him out of his thoughts. With a splitting headache, he gets out of bed and makes his way to his bathroom to grab some pain medicine before heading to the kitchen.

Josh places the bottle of medicine on the counter in the kitchen and grabs a bottle or water out if the refrigerator. He grabs two pills out of the bottle and takes them. Tyler has music playing on his phone and must not hear him because he turns around and jumps a little  when he sees Josh. 

Tyler let's out a breathy laugh as he clutches his chest. "Oh my god, you scared me."

Josh smiles softly as he sits down at the kitchen island. "Sorry."

Tyler eyes him for a second and smiles back. "You look like you've seen better days."

Josh groans as he rubs his temples. "Understatement."

Tyler turns down the music. "Do you think you're up for eating something?"

Josh really isn't. He feels a little queasy just thinking about food, honestly but he can't see himself saying no to Tyler. "Yeah, sure. What are you cooking?"

Tyler walks back to the stove and flips something in the pan. "French toast. Hope you like that?"

"Mhm, sounds great." Josh is more surprised than anything that he actually had fresh eggs and milk.

Josh sits quietly, watching Tyler hum to the low music playing while finishing their breakfast. It's a bizarre thing seeing someone in his kitchen cooking while wearing his clothes.  Foreign mostly. But yet, he can't find it in himself to hate it.

His husband is in his kitchen cooking them breakfast.

Josh feels like he's warped into some different dimension. He's sure this is strange to Tyler too but Tyler's been married before so obviously this isn't too unfamiliar of territory for him. Soon a plate is being put in front of him. Hungry or not, admittedly it smells and looks amazing.

Tyler sits on the barstool next to him with his own plate of food. "Well, dig in." He nudges Josh's arm with his.

Josh does just that. It's the best French toast he's ever eaten, by far. "You know, you could have easily been a chef."

Tyler laughs. "I actually wasn't that great of a cook even just three years ago. Kind of picked it up as a hobby. A distraction..." His voice trails off but Josh knows why, unfortunately.

Josh is more than happy to change the subject after a while of awkward silence. "So what time do you want to go to your house and start packing?"

Tyler shrugs. "Jenna is supposed to get here with the U-haul in about a hour, so I guess then."

Josh huffs out a laugh. "She sure has made herself at home texting you so much. You talk to her more than I do now. Sorry about that."

Tyler smiles. "I don't really mind. She is great. Actually reminds me of someone." He clears his throat and gets up, picking up he and Josh's plates. "I'm just gonna clean the kitchen real quick."

Josh gets up and walks to the sink. "Nah, I'll do it since you cooked. Go ahead and go take a shower if you want. Just grab whatever you want to wear out of my closet after."

Tyler pats his back. "Thanks, man. I could use one actually."

Josh is standing by the counter, waiting on the sink to fill up when Tyler walks back into the kitchen, shirtless. Josh's eyes widen. He's hoping to hell Tyler doesn't notice his reaction. It's stupid really. Josh has seen his fair share of shirtless men but Tyler is different.

Well, makes him feel different. Like protecting him. From himself mostly. See, Tyler seems so innocent to Josh and no one would exactly call Josh Dun innocent.

Josh didn't realise they were just standing there sharing an uncomfortable and quiet gaze until Tyler's talking snapped him out of it. "I was just wondering where the towels are?"

Josh clears his throat. "Oh, they're in the linen closet in the hallway."

Tyler's mouth twists into the slightest smile. "Okay, thanks."

Josh scolds himself quietly under his breath. Something about Tyler makes him turn into a blushing and awkward mess. He really doesn't like feeling like a teenage boy again. He doesn't see it stopping anytime soon though.

After both of their showers, Jenna gets there with the U-haul. "Okay." She says walking in and taking off her sunglasses. "I think I got enough boxes but if not.." She stops mid sentence when Tyler walks into the living room. She gives them both a somewhat menacing smile. "Are the husbands sharing clothes already?" She walks up to them and pinches a cheek of them both. "So adorable." Jenna starts walking back towards the door. "Okay, let's get this show on the road before I'm  having to find a new husband myself with how much I've barely been home this week." Jenna throws Josh the keys when they get outside. "You drive."

Josh gets into the truck and Tyler holds open the passenger door for Jenna. She backs away. "Ty, do you mind sitting in the middle. It makes me a little claustrophobic."

Tyler climbs in next to him. Josh looks past him and sees Jenna smiling as she gets in and closes the door. Josh rolls his eyes. Her intentions are pretty transparent. "Did you get a dolly for Tyler's piano too?"

"Mhm"

"And straps for it?"

"Yes, Joshua."

**

"Alright." Tyler says after they get inside of the house. "This shouldn't take too long. I already have the stuff labeled that I'm bringing in the kitchen so you can maybe start packing that stuff, Jen." Tyler walks to the large bookshelf. "Um, everything on the first four shelves is mine so just pack those." He grabs a few boxes. "I'm going to go do my bedroom. If you aren't sure about anything just ask Mark."

Josh nods his head and gets to work. After a few minutes Jenna comes out of the kitchen with a camera in her hand. She starts snapping a few pictures of Josh. "Jen, what the heck are you doing?"

She lowers the camera. "Taking a few pics for the scrapbook."

Josh raises an eyebrow. "Uh, what scrapbook?"

"The one I'm making for some of the wedding pictures and the big moving in together day. Will be nice to have pics to show the co-executor if you have to."

Josh sighs. "Fine, whatever."

She turns around toward the hallway. "Hey Tyler. Can you come see a sec?"

He pokes his head out of the door of his room. "Yeah?"

She points at Josh. "Come stand next to Josh. I'm taking a few moving day pics for the scrapbook I told you about."

Great, more awkward picture time, Josh thinks as Tyler walks toward him. He knows he's just going to have to suck it up and deal with it. How is he even going to deal with kissing Tyler soon if he can't handle a few close pictures? The thought makes him instantly tense a little. 

"Okay, Josh, you grab the box in front of you and hold it. Tyler, since you're a little taller, you stand behind Josh and reach around and hold the box too."

He feels Tyler move behind him and ends up pressed almost flush to his back. "Sorry." Tyler whispers, hot breath on his neck. "Only way I can reach the box." Josh resists the urge to just close his eyes and sink into the embrace. He doesn't want Tyler thinking he's married some creep that can't control himself though. Tyler puts his chin on Josh's shoulder.

"Okay boys, smile."

Two hours later they are pushing the piano into the U-haul. Everything else has already been loaded into the truck. Josh walks down the ramp of the truck and closes the back. "Alright." He turns to Tyler. "Is that everything before I lock it up?"

Tyler starts walking towards the house. "I'll be right back. Going to give everything a final check and say goodbye to Mark."

Jenna puts a hand on Josh's back and rubs it. "So are you nervous?"

Josh bites his bottom lip. "Yeah, a little. Tyler is great and all but I don't know how to be a roommate much less a husband."

Jenna smiles. "You're worried about being good to him. That's.. Okay, where is Josh and what have you done with him? You've been so different this past week. If I didn't know better I would think someone has a small crush."

Josh moves away from her and starts walking to the drivers side of the truck. "I do not have a crush."

He hears her saying. "Sure you don't." As he climbs in.

Josh Dun doesn't do crushes. He isn't twelve. He's just being a nice guy. Why is that so hard for anyone to get? Sure, Tyler is cute and nice and funny and sincere and different..

Just then Tyler climbs in next to him and smiles. "All set. I locked up the back."

Jenna gets in as well. "So Tyler, are you nervous? I know Joshua is a little."

Josh grips the steering wheel, tightly and takes in a deep breath. "Jen." He interrupts. "We are just going to drop you off right now. You need to get home to the family. You've helped more than enough." He shoots her a playful glare.

"Are you sure? I can help unpack..."

"I'm sure."

Josh feels relieved when she doesn't fight it anymore. He'd like to not feel any weirder than he has so far today and honestly a low-key rest of the day with just Tyler doesn't sound too bad.

**

When they finally get the last of the boxes inside, Josh is ready to fall down where he stands. He throws himself face down onto the couch. "Ugh. I should have been doing more cardio lately. Or we should have at least done this tomorrow when no one was hungover."

Tyler laughs and walks to the refrigerator, opening it. "It's better to get to just rest tomorrow before work Monday. We definitely need to go grocery shopping tomorrow though."

Josh pokes his head up from the couch. "There's some take out menus on the counter. Just order two pizzas from somewhere or something."

**

After lunch they manage to get the piano down into the basement.

Tyler looks around. "Okay, I'm a bit relieved now and pleasantly surprised."

Josh smiles, confused. "How so?"

"Well when you said basement, I wasn't  expecting a nice finished basement. Totally expected a concrete nightmare that was going to scare my students half to death."

Josh laughs, loudly. "Nah. This is kind of my happy place so of course I wanted it to be nice."

Tyler walks around. "I really like the band posters everywhere. We seem to be into alot of the same music." He smiles at Josh. "Pretty cool."

"Okay, well I guess I'll bring your bedroom boxes into the guest room and you can start unpacking the kitchen stuff." Before Josh can make it back to the stairs, Tyler stops him.

"Um, actually, I've been thinking. Now you can say no of course because it's your room.." Tyler stops for a second, nervous look on his face. "Well everything is going to have to be as authentic as possible, marriage wise, for the co-executor.." Tyler looks down and picks at his nails. "Maybe we should share a bedroom.." Josh is just standing there, mouth slightly open, staring at Tyler with probably a look of panic on his face. Tyler notices too and immediately starts backtracking. "Don't worry about it, I knew it was stupid. I just thought it would help force us to become closer. It's just we already only have three weeks left and we can't exactly live like total strangers the whole time..."

Josh knows Tyler is right. Three weeks is hardly enough time for most people who first start dating to get to know each other. To actually have to seem in love and married. He knows they will have to do whatever is necessary. He wills himself to calm down and talk. "No. You are completely right." He sighs. "I know it will be awkward but I don't think we really have a choice. It would suck to have done all this for nothing. We need to be as productive as possible."

Tyler's panicked face instantly turns into one of relief. "Alright. It's a plan then."

Josh stops them when they are halfway up the staircase. "Just maybe don't tell Jenna. We'll never hear the end of it."

While Tyler is unpacking his clothes, Josh clears out two dresser drawers for him. He puts half of his stuff into the dresser in the guestroom. He does the same with the clothes in his closet. Josh leaves out to start unpacking the kitchen stuff.

Halfway through, Tyler comes into the kitchen. "Hey, what side of the bed do you sleep on? I just need to know where to put my pillow and which nightstand to put my stuff in."

"Oh uh I usually sleep on the right side. But you can take whichever side is more comfortable to you. Doesn't matter."

Tyler smiles. "That's nice of you but the left side is more than fine. You're already giving up half of your bedroom and bed as it is." Not too long after Tyler is back in the kitchen helping to put up everything. 

Josh puts a blender onto the counter. "Mark isn't going to need any of this stuff?"

"Not really. He isn't as bad as you with cooking but he still doesn't cook that much. More of a sandwich or bowl of cereal kind of guy."

Josh laughs. "Well at least he makes an effort fixing a sandwich. More than I do."

Tyler looks at the clock on the wall. "Man, I can't believe it's only five. Ready for the day to be over with. Sleep can't come soon enough."

Josh hums in agreement. "We can probably just finish putting away this stuff and veg out on the couch and watch Netflix or something if you want?"

"Sounds good. I'll just unpack the other boxes Monday before my lessons. With taking a week off, I have a lot of students this next week. He turns to Josh and gives him a sympathetic look. "Sorry in advance for the lots of mediocre piano playing coming from your basement." 

Josh takes a box of pizza and two bottles of water out of the refrigerator. "No need to apologize. I fully support anything musical. Painful to the ears or not." He places the pizza and water down onto the coffee table. "Can you grab some plates and napkins please?"  
Josh puts the tv on. "I've been dying to start watching Luke Cage. Does that sound good to you?"

Tyler finishes a bite of pizza. "Wait, is that one of those comic book shows?"

"Mhm. Supposed to be awesome. Jenna doesn't stop talking about it."

Tyler smiles. "I actually don't like comic book movies or shows."

Josh almost drops his plate and gapes at Tyler. "What? Are you serious? Who doesn't like that? Are you okay?"

Tyler laughs and shrugs. "I just never saw the appeal. Doesn't really do much for me. Mark's really into all of that stuff. He's always trying to change my mind."

Josh takes a sip of water and smiles. "See, I don't think I can be married to someone who doesn't like comic book movies but loves Disney ones. I have a reputation, you know."

Tyler throws a balled up napkin at him. "Maybe you should have just married Mark. You guys seem like a perfect match. You both could just watch your superheroes and eat sandwiches."

Josh laughs so loud that he snorts. "I..nope. I can't say that I can or want to picture that one bit. He seems like a cool dude when he isn't glaring at me and all but I can't see kissing and being somewhat intimate with him and actually enjoying it."

Realisation of what he just said hits Josh very quickly. "Well..I mean..um." He kind of wouldn't mind disappearing right at this moment. He looks at Tyler, who's looking down at his plate, face a bit flushed.

After a minute, Tyler breaks the silence. "We can watch Luke Cage." He smiles, sweetly. "Wouldn't want to tarnish your wholesome reputation, now would we."

Two episodes in and Tyler is fast asleep on the couch. Josh cleans up their plates and picks up the rest of the pizza. When he walks back into the living room and sees how peaceful Tyler looks, he's half tempted to leave him sleeping on the couch but..the couch isn't the most comfortable and he doesn't want Tyler to wake up hurting. He bends over Tyler and gently shakes his shoulder. "Hey, Tyler." It takes a couple of rougher shakes to finally get him to wake up. "Sorry but this couch kills trying to sleep on it."

Tyler sits up. "Okay. Thanks." He yawns. "Sorry for falling asleep during the show."

Josh playfully tsks at him. "And here I thought for a little while that this marriage would last."

**

Josh goes to sleep that night entirely different than he thought he would be when he woke up this morning. He turns over, smile on his face as he falls asleep listening to Tyler's breathing and soft snores.


	8. Volentem fata trahunt negantes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fate leads the willing and drags along the reluctant.  
> -Seneca

Sure, Josh Dun is no stranger to waking up in his bed with someone else in it. A foreign body pressed against him and tangled limbs are usually dealt with though by a few swift but gentle perfected moves on his part. The fact that he has yet to move away from the warm arm slung over his chest, is evidence that this is not the usual situation. A careful breath in and a brief close of his eyes give him the calming push he needs to turn his head Tyler's way. An almost involuntary smile tugs at his lips as his gaze sets upon the man sleeping on his stomach to the side of him. The bright morning light peeking in through the curtains shine almost perfectly on slightly parted lips.

Josh's first thought is why in that moment did his stomach decide to simultaneously fill with butterflies. His second, he wonders if he is so used to meaningless touches, that are usually nothing more than a means of getting off, that a purely platonic cuddle would render him this anxious. Unfortunately there is no playbook about what to do in this situation. Hell, even some cliff notes would not go unappreciated by him right now. Does he move? Does he wake Tyler up? A simple forgotten action to silence his phone before going to bed last night makes the decision for him though as a loud text tone dings throughout the room.  
  
There's a shift and a soft groan next to him as squinted eyes slowly open and meet his. Squinted doesn't stay that way long as they are quickly replaced with now wide ones. Josh assumes Tyler must have noticed where his arm is currently resting and the resulting awkwardness from it if the now sheepish smile says anything. "Sorry." He rasps out lowly. "Not used to sleeping with anyone."

Josh hums in understanding as Tyler moves his arm off of him and rolls over. "No worries, I get it." Now free from the weight on his chest, he stands up, smoothing out his messy curls with one hand and grabbing his phone to check the text message with the other.

"So." Tyler sits up a little, propped up on his elbows. "I was thinking maybe we can just grab some coffee and breakfast on the way to the grocery store this morning?"

Josh finishes responding to the text and sets his phone back down. "Anywhere in particular?"

Tyler stands up too and starts walking towards the hallway. "Yeah, actually there is one place not far from my house that I think you will like a lot." There seems to be a pause filled with slight hesitation before he continues. "The baristas are a little testy but they have the best coffee and donuts."

**

Josh is bent down in front of a glass case, eyes set upon a rows of different kinds of donuts. "Want me to just order you what I usually get?" He hears from beside him. The options are a little overwhelming and some just odd.

As he looks up, his indecisiveness doesn't seem to be appreciated by the impatient gum smacking barista standing in front of the counter so he relents. "Yeah that's fine."

"Just two glazed and two chocolate, please." Tyler holds the door open for Josh, who is carrying everything. "Do you mind actually." He starts saying as Josh goes to sit at one of the outside tables. Tyler points across the street. "That park is small but really nice. I was thinking we could sit over there and eat?"

With a brief glimpse of where Tyler is pointing and a want to drink his coffee as soon as possible, Josh picks everything back up quickly and stands back up. "Yeah that's cool."

Josh follows Tyler down a small walkway in the park. Tyler stops them at a bench in front of a small stream. "This is where I usually like to sit"

Josh doesn't blame him. Its quite a beautiful spot. The trickling from the stream does a good job of distracting from the traffic noise.

After they sit down on the bench, Tyler grabs the donut box, opening it. "Glazed or chocolate first?"

Josh smiles and brings the cup of coffee to his lips before blowing the top of it, warm steam wetting them slightly. "Coffee. I have to have coffee first."

Tyler laughs and pulls out a glazed one. "Oh, I married one of those."

Josh blows more and playfully scoffs. "You have some nerve saying that after last night."

Tyler finishes a bite of his donut. "Don't tell me that's going to be your go to every time you do something wrong. That at least you didn't withhold vow breaking information such as not liking superheroes."

Josh's takes a big sip of his coffee. "Now there's a thought I can fully get behind."

Tyler wipes his hands with a napkin and playfully swats Josh's arm.

Josh wedges his cup in between his legs before reaching over and grabbing the box off of Tyler's lap. "So how often do you come here?"

"I usually come on Sundays. That's why I thought of it this morning. Just has been part of my routine for a while." He chews another bite. "Kind of feels like you're not even in the city."

Josh takes a bite of his donut and looks around. "Yeah you're kind of right." He smiles at Tyler as he hears a loud horn in the distance. "Maybe."

**

At least following Tyler around a grocery store, while pushing a cart, doesn't end up being as awkward as he thought it was going to be. Josh hasn't been shopping with someone else since he was a teenager and would go with his mom sometimes. They start off in the fruit and vegetable area first. Admittedly, it isn't where Josh usually goes when he shops.

Ever.

Tyler holds up something purple that Josh couldn't tell you what it was if his life depended on it. "Do you like eggplant?"

Josh shrugs. "Uh, I guess." It sounds more like a question than an answer.

Tyler grabs a plastic bag off of the roll and puts the eggplant in it, tying it off at the end. He places it in the basket. "I'm gonna assume you don't cook with vegetables much?"

Josh laughs. "You wouldn't be wrong to assume that."

Tyler places another bag into the cart. "So do you mind if I just pick out whatever then?"

"I mean, yeah go ahead. I'm not really picky or anything."

Tyler hums. "Alright. Just stop me if you see something you really don't want."

In between different aisles, Josh feels a tiny bit guilty as he places his junk food into the cart with all of the healthy stuff Tyler has already put in there. This would be the part that he starts feeling a little weird about. He definitely isn't used to someone else seeing everything he does. He knows Tyler isn't going to say anything but its like his life is under a microscope in a way now.

Its an odd feeling.

**

Tyler puts the last grocery bag on the counter. "I was thinking of making shrimp salad sandwiches for lunch. That sound fine?"

Josh starts pulling items from the bags. "What's that?"

"Its like egg salad sandwiches but with shrimp instead. They are really good."

"Yeah that sounds good."

Tyler smiles as he hands Josh the milk to put in the refrigerator. "Want to help me cook it?"

Josh smiles back. "Sure." He closes the refrigerator door. "If you want food poisoning." He mumbles to himself.

After they finish up putting the groceries away, Tyler grabs a few things. "Would you rather saute the shrimp or cut up the celery?"

"Uh.." Josh is trying to figure out exactly what the hell saute means.

Tyler seems to notice his dilemma and laughs loudly. "Wow. Okay, cutting celery it is for you then."

Tyler gets a pan out of the cabinet and places it on the stove. "Just grab one stalk of the celery and rinse it in the sink really good. After just dice it up into small pieces."

Josh rinses the celery and then places it on the cutting board before slowly starting to chop it. Suddenly he feels Tyler behind him and his hand over the hand that he has on the knife. "Here, let me show you how to cut a little safer." He squeezes Josh's hand and starts to guide it and the knife. "See, isn't this easier?"

Josh nods even though the cutting isn't what he is really paying attention to. As innocent as the gesture is, he can't help but feel an intimate undertone to it.

He feels butterflies again.

Tyler walks back to the stove and drizzles oil into the pan. He turns back to look at Josh and smiles. "Hey, you got it. Doing great."

Josh mentally kicks himself as he blushes.

After they finish cooking, they sit down to eat. "So how is it?" Tyler asks in between bites. Josh chews and gives him a happy thumbs up. Tyler wipes his mouth with a napkin. "I was thinking that maybe we should start learning some details about each other. I mean, we don't know much obviously and have to know a lot."

Josh puts down his sandwich. "Yeah, I completely agree. Any idea how to do that though?" He laughs. "I'm not exactly known for my good memory."

Tyler seems to think it over for a second. "We could write everything down and study it. Then we can maybe do some flashcards or something and quiz each other."

"Yeah, that's a good idea actually."

**

Josh hands Tyler a notebook and pen as they sit down on the couch. "Maybe we should look up exactly what kinds of stuff they ask before we start."

Josh pulls out his phone and types in marriage authenticity questions. He reads over one of the pages for a minute and laughs. "Wow, I think we were gonna be way off base with what we were probably going to ask each other."

He hands his phone to Tyler. Tyler scans the screen. "How much money did you receive in your last paycheck or deposit. What about your spouse." He hands the phone back and looks at Josh. "Yikes. Off base would have even been off base." He laughs. "Here I was planning on asking what your favorite color is."

Josh laughs too. "Yeah I don't think that would have cut it." He brings his pen down to the paper. "I guess lets just answer these and try to fill in the blanks with everything else."

After a few filled notebook pages, Josh feels relieved to only see two questions left. "Alright, these are the last ones."

"What color is your toothbrush? What color is your spouses?" Josh looks up at Tyler. "Mine is green."

"White." Tyler says looking down at the notebook, writing.

Josh avoids Tyler's face as he asks the next question. "Do you or your spouse use birth control?"

He can see Tyler shift in the corner of his eye. "Oh, um."

Josh interrupts him, hoping the end the awkward moment as quickly as possible. "We will just say that we don't use anything. Simple." Josh clears his throat. "Okay, last question. What was the last movie you went out to see together?"

He looks at Tyler and shrugs. "I don't even know when the last time I saw a movie was or what's ever out."

Tyler taps his pen on the notebook. "Hm. Yeah, same."

Josh's mouth goes dry as the following words leave it before he can even stop himself. "Maybe we should go see a movie soon or something so we can have something real to say." He glances at Tyler who still hasn't said anything. "We can you know, just grab some dinner or something too?"

Tyler finally looks at him and smiles. "Yeah, that could be fun. When?"

Josh plops the notebook onto the coffee table and stands up to stretch. "Uh. Maybe sometime this week? I don't really feel like fighting the crowds everywhere this weekend."

Tyler closes his notebook and tosses it next to Josh's. "That sounds good. Tuesday is the only day I don't have an afternoon lesson though. We can leave and get back earlier."

"Yeah, okay, that works. I'll go ahead and make a reservation somewhere tomorrow." Josh starts walking towards the hallway. "I need to put clothes to wash. Do you need anything washed too?"

Tyler shakes his head. "I was gonna do a small load tomorrow while you are at work."

Josh groans as he passes back through the living room with an arm full of clothes. "Don't even remind me of work tomorrow. I have a really long meeting in the morning."

He walks into the laundry room that's adjacent to the kitchen. "Hey Tyler?"

"Yeah?"

Josh opens the washer door. "Do you know how to use a front load washer or do you need me to show you?"

He hears footsteps by the door a few seconds later. "I know how to use one." Tyler taps his fingers on the door frame. "I was going to start supper soon.."

"Actually." Josh says as he closes the washer door. "We had a pretty late lunch. Want to just snack on something later instead? I'm not even hungry honestly."

"That's fine. I'll just pack the left over sandwiches for you for lunch tomorrow if you want?"

Tyler moves out of the way as Josh turns off the light and closes the laundry room door. "Sounds good."

**

Josh's phone rings as he gets into bed. "Jen? Is everything okay?" He answers, confused. She never calls him this late.

"Your husband just texted me a little while ago and told me you asked him on a date!"

Josh stills as he is moving the blankets over him. "I..asked him on a what now?" He tries keeping his voice low since Tyler is in the guest bathroom in the hallway.

"Well he didn't say date exactly but said you two are going to a movie Tuesday.."

Josh cuts in."Jenna, its not a date.."

Jenna laughs. "Oh is that so?"

"Yes it is so. Its just something we are doing for the marriage legitimacy stuff.  It's just dinner and a movie."

He can all but see Jenna's smirk on the other end of the phone. "Dinner and a movie sure sounds like a date to me, Joshua."

Josh huffs. "For the last time, it is not a date!" He whisper-shouts.

"Let me ask you this then. When was the last time you went on a date?"

Josh thinks back for a few seconds. Its been a really long time. "Uh, I guess about ten years ago."

"And what did you do?"

"Went to dinner and a movie.." He sighs and closes his eyes. "Shit."

Jenna laughs more. "See what I am saying here? Its not a bad thing though for you guys to go on dates. I fully support it."

"Mhm, I'm sure you do." Just then he hears the bathroom door open. "I have to go, Tyler is coming to bed."

"Wait, what you mean coming to bed?"

Josh whispers. "I have to go."

He gets a text not more than a second after he hangs up.

> Jenna: Don't think you aren't explaining that to me tomorrow. Love you, goodnight. Give Tyler a goodnight kiss from me ;)

Josh rolls his eyes and puts his phone on the end table as Tyler walks in.

Tyler smiles as he pulls back the blankets on his side of the bed. "Jenna?"

Josh lays down, facing Tyler. "Yep."

Tyler lays down facing Josh as well. "She seems to have this crazy idea that we are going on a date."

Josh suppresses a groan and mutters. "Crazy idea from a crazy person."

Tyler doesn't seem to miss it. He bites his bottom lip and smiles again. "I mean, its not the craziest idea ever though..."

Josh doesn't get a chance to answer before Tyler is rolling over and turning the lamp on his side off. "Goodnight, Josh."

Josh rolls over too. He finishes the day the same way he started it, frozen, laying on his back, staring at the ceiling with a stomach full of butterflies.


	9. Cura fugit multo diluiturque mero

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Worry flees and is dissolved in much wine.  
> -Ovid

To say that Josh wakes up the next morning nervous and confused, wouldn't be understating it. _It's not the craziest idea_ , played on a loop in his head, keeping him awake for hours last night. It's like the single thought has taken hostage of every cell in his brain. For the first time, he's really considering the thought that Tyler may like him.

That thought takes over the other one as they sit and eat breakfast. Tyler insisted on cooking for him, stating that he should have a good one since he had a long meeting this morning. The breakfast is mostly quiet with both of them just exchanging random small talk and occasional glances.

Josh doesn't miss the light blush on Tyler's cheeks. Or the fact that he probably is blushing himself.

**

He's more than happy for the distraction of the meeting. Well, as distracted as he could be with Jenna texting him the entire time about their sleeping arrangements and fake date. Josh managed to deflect and ignore her for the most part.

That was about to end.

Josh is halfway through his leftover shrimp salad sandwich when his office door flies open and Jenna is walking in, pushing a stroller. He puts his sandwich down and sighs. "To what do I owe this pleasure too?"

Jenna parks the stroller next to a chair and sits down, pulling out her phone and showing him the screen. "Ten unanswered texts, Joshua. Would you like to tell me why you're avoiding me?"

"Well, as I told you earlier, I was in a meeting."

In a move he's not even sure is shocking to him at this point, Jenna pulls a Tupperware container and fork out of her purse. "Yes, but you aren't now. Doesn't take but a minute to reply."

Josh finishes another bite of his sandwich. "So you pack up your lunch and come all the way over here to lecture me about not texting you back fast enough?" He holds a hand up. "Wait, no, this is you, of course you did."

Jenna sets down the container and lightly covers Henry's ears. "Cut the shit, Joshua. Just admit that you like him and are nervous about the date." She uncovers his ears. "I don't know why you keep dancing around the subject. Liking someone isn't a crime."

He starts opening a few random drawers of his desk. "I'm actually ashamed of myself that I don't have any alcohol."

"More deflection, that means I'm right."

Josh doesn't like the smirk on her face.

"Jen.." he sighs. "Look, we've only known each other for less than two weeks. And besides, this is a business deal, nothing more, nothing less." Jenna goes to cover Henry's ears again but before she can, he stops her. "Fine, yes, I'm nervous. Are you happy?"

Jenna finishes chewing before shrieking out."Ha! I knew it." Before Josh can answer she speaks again. "If it's any consolation, Tyler's nervous too."

Hearing that only makes Josh more nervous for some reason. He's so into his head that he doesn't even hear Jenna's next question until she is tapping her fork on the desk. He looks up at her. "Wait, what?"

"I asked, where are you taking him to dinner?"

"I don't know yet, Lindey's or something."

Josh can see her suppressing a squeal. "Ooo, romantic."

"McDonald's it is then..."

She sighs and sits back in the chair. "Josh, listen, I know your damage but don't you think it's time to move on?"

Josh takes a sip of his water and shakes his head. "Why are you pushing for this so much? Am I the only one that didn't forgot that this is a business deal? That it's fake?"

"I'm pushing because you are emotionally stunted, hard headed and would let this opportunity slip by."

"What opportunity?"

Jenna rolls her eyes. "Tyler is available, hot, sweet and for some crazy reason actually likes you. I just want you to be honest with yourself here. You like him. "

"Even if I am attracted to him and like him, even just a little." He sees Jenna's eyes go wide with excitement. "Not saying I do... Look, it would complicate too much. What if it wouldn't work out and then we have to spend the rest of the year together? That would be a mess."

Jenna raises an eyebrow at him and smiles. "You sound like you've been thinking about this a lot."

He really can't help but glare at her. "You wanted me to talk about this and then you're just going to tease me about it. Great."

"Oh relax, I'm sorry okay. Not trying to tease, just stating the obvious. So you do like him but you're afraid doing something about it will mess everything up?"

If there is one thing Josh is good at, it's avoidance. He can hear Henry babbling in the stroller and gets up and walks over to it, squatting down. He unbuckles him and picks him up. "Hey there buddy. Your mommy and my husband are trying to drive me crazy."

"Don't you use the baby to avoid talking to me about this."

That is exactly what he does as he spends the rest of lunch bouncing a smiling and cooing, Henry on his knee.

**

Unfortunately for Josh, he didn't have a cute baby to avoid all of the awkward interactions between he and Tyler the rest of the evening and night. He lays awake again that night wondering if this is how it's going to be now, just awkward tiptoeing and how much worse that's going to get when their relationship gets more intimate. Even if it's only for show.

**

Josh is sitting in his car the following afternoon, in his driveway, contemplating whether or not Jenna would kill him if he didn't shut the car off and just drove straight to Mexico, right then and there.

The plan is aborted when he sees Tyler look out of the window and smile at him. He turns off the car and takes a deep breath. "Here goes nothing." He mumbles while opening the door. Josh walks inside and Tyler's now sitting on the couch. He avoids his gaze and starts walking towards the hallway. "I just need to quickly shower and I'll be ready."

While he showers and gets ready, his heart and mind are racing the entire time. "It's just a movie and dinner." He says to himself over and over while putting on his shoes before leaving out of the bedroom.

Tyler stands up from the couch once he walks into the living room. "Uh, you look nice."

Josh smiles and can feel himself blushing. "You look nice too."

There's a minute of exchanged smiles and stares before Josh snaps himself out of it. "Uh, we should get going. The movie is in thirty minutes."

On the way to the theater, out of the corner of his eye, he can see Tyler look at him every once in a while, biting his bottom lip and looking like he wants to say something. Josh can feel the obvious tension in the air between them. Tyler's staring out of the window and bouncing a leg, nervously. "Are you okay? We can go back home and do this another.."

Tyler whips his head around quickly to Josh, interrupting him. "No, I'm fine." He looks down at his lap, fingers fidgeting. "If I'm being honest, I'm a little nervous. It's been a long time since I've been..um..well out with anyone like this." He looks up at Josh and smiles. "Unless you count Mark."

The tension seems to break a little as they both laugh. "Well, if it makes you feel better. I'm a little nervous too." Josh takes one hand off of the steering wheel and rubs the back of his neck. "It's been a really long time for me too." He's half tempted to tell him just how long but he doesn't feel like dumping all of that baggage onto him. 

"I'm a bit surprised by that. The way Jenna made it sound that night at dinner, you date a lot."

 _Sex and dating are not exactly the same thing_ , he thinks but doesn't dare directly say it. Josh laughs, uncomfortably. "Um, not exactly. You know, uh, I used to go to a club or bar here and there."

Tyler seems to catch on to what he is saying and nods his head. "Gotcha."

**

Josh really is hoping no one actually asks him what the movie was about, because honestly in this moment, he couldn't tell you the first thing about it. The movie is halfway over but his attention has been on a laughing and smiling Tyler the whole time. The shoulder brushing his and an excited hand grabbing his arm constantly doesn't help.

It's distracting but he can't find it in him to hate it.

With his eyes trained on Tyler's mouth, he doesn't even notice the eyes on the same face looking at him. "Josh?"

His eyes quickly flick up to Tyler's. "Huh?"

"Are you okay?"

Josh clears his throat and wipes his clammy palms on his pants. "Uh, yeah.. Yeah I'm good."

Tyler smiles and squints his eyes at him for a moment. "Okay." He answers in a tone that suggests he doesn't quite believe him.

Josh notices and makes it his mission to not stare and actually watch the movie the rest of the time. He still doesn't even know what the it's about by the time it's over. All he can do is just nod his head and agree as Tyler rambles and laughs about different parts of the movie as they walk out of the theater and to the car.

The fake facade isn't getting him anywhere apparently because Tyler stops laughing and turns to him, buckling his seat belt. "You didn't like the movie, did you?"

Caught off guard is exactly what he is as he freezes for a second. "Oh, um, I did..I did.. I just have work stuff on my mind and got distracted." He really doesn't like lying to Tyler but the other option is the truth and he's not sure _I find your face cute and was staring at you the entire time_ the right thing to say either.

Tyler just says "Okay" and sits back.

**

They get seated at their table and place their orders. The restaurant is loud and busy so it cuts some of the awkward silence going on as they wait for their appetizer. Tyler takes a big sip from his glass of wine and looks around. "I've never been here before. It's nice."

"I like steak." Is all Josh replies with and instantly wants to disappear. "Their steak, I meant. I like their steak, it's great." He can feel his face heat up from embarrassment so he groans and closes his eyes.

His eyes open back up at the sound of laughter. Tyler stops laughing and shoots him a sympathetic smile. "Steak is good. I like steak too."

Josh downs the rest of his glass of wine and smiles back, shyly.

Twenty minutes, a half a bottle of wine and an appetizer later, the conversation is going surprisingly well over their entrees. "So, tell me about this music store of yours."

Josh smiles as he cuts a piece of steak. "I don't know. I'm wanting something a bit small with a mom and pop, vintage feel to it."

Tyler looks at him a bit shocked. "Really? I thought you'd be doing the whole big, state of the art, modern thing."

Josh laughs as he chews. "Nah. I think if you would have asked me that when I was younger I would have answered saying something like that. Now after working in the environment I have for so long, I just want something low-key and as least stressful as possible."

"I like that. Sounds cool. I may have to come by some time after you know, this is over and all."

Somehow those words instantly make his stomach drop but he doesn't want to kill the mood so he forces a smile. "I would like that."

"So in the spirit of getting to know each other,  tell me about young Josh Dun.

"Oh god." Josh playfully winces. "Well, I was a little bit of a rebel. Thought I knew everything and that I was a badass. Determined to be a musician. The usual local punk kind of thing going on."

Tyler smiles widely. "I could see that. Skateboarding, skinny jeans, a cigarette behind your ear."

Josh laughs loudly into his napkin. "That's kind of spot on actually."

"So why didn't you pursue being a musician or a career in music? You seem to have a passion for it."

Josh shrugs. "After high school I was actually supposed to go with someone to California. Do the who drumming thing. Try to make it and all." Breath catches in his throat at the sudden memories of who he was supposed to go with and why he didn't. "That didn't really pan out." He clears his throat. "What about you? What were you like? Hopes and dreams?"

"Honestly, I can't say I was as cool as you were. I was pretty average I guess. Liked basketball and school. Took piano lessons. Went to college to be an elementary school teacher..."

Josh perks up at that. Suddenly the Mary Poppins vibe makes a ton of sense. "A teacher is very fitting for you."

Tyler looks down at his plate, shifting the food around with his fork, musing it over for a minute. "I really loved it. I hope to go back to it one day actually."

Understandably, Josh isn't about to ask him why he quit. He knows. He just picks up the bottle of wine. "More?"

Tyler nods and holds up his glass.

**

Tyler is a little giggly and glassy eyed by the time dinner is over and they are on their way home. With Josh driving, Tyler had a bit more of the wine so it's understandable. And Josh maybe finds it a bit cute as Tyler leans back in his seat, singing a song on the radio.

Josh jumps a little when Tyler suddenly stops singing and gasps loudly. "We have dessert at home. I almost completely forgot that I made a pie today."

He doesn't have the heart to tell him that he is stuffed. Not with Tyler looking at him expectantly and smiling at him sweetly. "I can't wait to try it."

Tyler goes back to singing and Josh can't help but listen to him and smile the rest of the drive home.  

**

They are standing across from each other at the kitchen island, leaning over the pie, forks in hand. Tyler looks at him eagerly as he digs his fork into the pie and takes a bite. His eyes close and he moans happily. He doesn't care if his stomach explodes, it's completely worth it. "Damn, this is good pie."

Tyler smiles behind his hand, mouth full. "Thank you. I made it all from scratch."

He shakes his head in disbelief. "You're amazing." Josh freezes mid chew when he realizes what he said. Word vomit wants to turn into actual vomit as he looks up at Tyler to gauge his reaction.

His gaze is met with curious eyes and a shade of red he's never seen Tyler's face before. "Thank you." Tyler says, almost in a whisper. They eat a few more bites in silence before Tyler looks at him again, still blushing. "I actually had a great time tonight."

It's Josh's turn to blush. "I did too. It was really nice." He takes a sip of his milk and looks down, stomach doing small flips as he says the next words. "I, um.. I wouldn't mind doing it again sometime soon. You know, for..."

Before he can continue, he hears his name said, softly. "Josh?"

The second he tilts his head upwards, a pair of lips are on his. Josh feels like the entire world stops as his now syrupy brain registers them as Tyler's. Before another single thought can be processed, the lips are gone.

Tyler's face is still close to his and his eyes are screwed shut. "I'm sorry. Was that okay? It just felt like an okay time to do that..."

Josh has to fight the urge to chase the apple cinnamon flavored soft lips and press them to his again. "Yeah." He says a bit breathlessly. "You're good. It was great."

Shut eyes slowly open and those same lips stretch into a shy smile. "It's late. We should get to bed."

Josh smiles back. "You go ahead. I'll be there soon. Just gonna get all of this cleaned up."

The minute Tyler rounds the corner to the hallway, Josh let's out a shaky breath and sinks back into the counter. _What the actual hell just happened_ , is all he can think as he licks his lips, still tasting of Tyler.

**

In a similar pattern his waking and sleeping life has fallen into to, he falls asleep even more confused and nervous than how he woke up. There's no way he can avoid it anymore.

He may actually like his husband.


	10. Qui non vult fieri desidiosus, amet

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let the man who does not wish to be idle, fall in love.  
> -Ovid

If this were a cartoon, bright red hearts would be floating around the brown locks that belong to the object of Josh's gaze. He's been awake for a little while now, waiting on his alarm to go off. He completely planned to get out of bed but before he could, the body shifted and turned next to him. The faint light from the rising sun, illuminated the room just enough for Josh to see the lips that were on his, just a few hours ago.

He doesn't even realize he's been laying there so long until his alarm is blaring. Josh sighs and gets out of bed before Tyler can wake up and catch him staring at him like a creep. Tyler groans as he sits up. Josh knows that hungover look all too well and smiles at him sympathetically. "You should go back to sleep."

Tyler throws the covers off of him and stands up, wobbly. "Not sure if I can. Just gonna go make some breakfast."

Josh shakes his head as he grab his clothes from the closet. "You don't have to make breakfast, I can."

Tyler passes by him on the way to the bathroom, smiling and raising an eyebrow.

"What?" Josh huffs and smiles back. "I know how to make toast." He lays his clothes on the bed as he hears laughing on the other side of the door.

Josh is in the kitchen already before Tyler joins, leaning against the counter next to the refrigerator. He watches him with a smile on his face as Josh plugs in the toaster. "You may want to take the butter out to soften a little while the toast cooks. It will be easier to spread." Tyler walks over and leans in front of the toaster, turning the dial. "You need to turn this down unless you like burnt toast."

"Will you go sit down and stop backseat cooking." Josh smiles at him while placing slices of bread in the toaster.

Tyler throws his hands up and goes back to the counter to put the coffee on. "Okay, okay. Sorry. Just a habit. Mark almost set fire to the kitchen a few times."

Josh laughs as he grabs the butter out of the refrigerator. "Well if it makes you feel any better, there's a fire extinguisher in the laundry room."

He finishes the toast and makes them each a cup of coffee. Tyler takes a bite and chews before looking at him. "Thank you for breakfast."

Josh takes a sip of his coffee and looks back up from his phone. "Don't mention it. Hangovers suck."

"Mhm. I'm suddenly remembering why I'm not a wine drinker."

As much as he tries to fight it, Josh's mind instantly flashes back to slightly wine stained lips and instinctually licks his. And if this were indeed a cartoon, he's sure he'd have hearts for eyes as he looks at Tyler. He wonders if Tyler's thinking about the kiss last night too. Or even remembers it at all. The causal vibe, he's getting from him, says no though.

Josh wants to tell him not to mention it to Jenna as he would like to have a peaceful day at work, not being interrupted by her a hundred times. But, he doesn't want to embarrass him if it was something he only did because he had been drinking.

**

So much for an uninterrupted day as Jenna texts him almost immediately when he gets to the office. He forgot she would want to know about the date. Apart from the kiss, even he forgot about the rest of the night.

> Jenna: So, how was it?

Josh sighs as he sits down at his desk, placing his phone on it. On one hand, he wants to keep the kiss private but on the other, he is really confused and knows she may be able to help. He needs an extra hand for the part of him that maybe just wants to forget about it all and pretend it never happened. Josh finally relents after she sends another text with ten question marks.

> Josh: It was fine.
> 
> Jenna: Don't max out the word count on my behalf, Joshua.
> 
> Josh: It was awkward for a while but it ended up being good. Dinner was nice. We had pie. Better?
> 
> Jenna: No goodnight smooches?
> 
> Josh: No.
> 
> Jenna: Okay, I guess. More than I thought I'd get out of husband number one.
> 
> Josh: Please don't bug Tyler. He doesn't feel too great today. He's probably sleeping again.
> 
> Jenna: Fine. No promises I won't ask if he texts me first though.

He pockets his phone as he rolls his eyes, feeling like he does that more than he blinks these days. He knows Jenna means well and just wants to see him happy. To him, he was happy before and has been for a long time.

Or so he thought.

**

That night they are sitting on the couch, bowl of popcorn in between them, watching a show Tyler wanted to watch on Netflix. Josh looks at Tyler when there's a particularly gruesome part on screen of a zombie eating someone. "For someone who's favorite movie is animated, this is a bit on the other end of the spectrum."

Tyler turns his head to him slightly, eyes staying glued to the screen, popping a few pieces of popcorn into his mouth. "Balance is good, Joshua."

Josh eyes him more. "Oh god, Jenna is starting to rub off on you."

Tyler laughs and throws a piece of popcorn at him. "Funny."

He picks it up off of his lap and eats it, grabbing a few more from the bowl and stealing another glance at Tyler again before he turns his attention back to the show.

Well he thought it was inconspicuous, anyway. Tyler picks up the remote off of the coffee table and pauses the show. He moves the popcorn to the table and turns his body towards him. "Are you weirded out by me kissing you last night?"

Josh nearly chokes and starts coughing, not exactly expecting that to come out of Tyler's mouth. He grabs his bottle of water and chugs back a bit of it, clearing the popcorn out of his throat.

Tyler's talking again before he can respond. "It's just you've been looking at me kind of weird since this morning and I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable.."

Hearing the worry in Tyler's voice instantly makes Josh snap out of the shock. Without thinking, he reaches over to Tyler's lap where his hands are wrung together and grabs one, intertwining their fingers and giving it a quick squeeze. "Hey, no no. You didn't make me uncomfortable, I promise you. I'm sorry if I've seemed off today. It just surprised me is all. The kiss was great. It was fine, I swear..."

He stops rambling and blushes as the worry melts off of Tyler's face and is replaced with a matching blush and smile. "Okay, I was just unsure and I thought we could use the practice with the couple stuff. I thought our first kiss in front of strangers would seem not genuine or something.."

Josh cuts in again. "Yeah, that's actually true and probably was smart to you know.. practice."

His eyes lock with Tyler's and they both sit there in silence for a minute before Tyler turns his head and looks in front of him. "I actually think it wouldn't be the worst thing to get used to the physical part of this. We only have two weeks before we could have to do stuff in front of strangers or anyone at all." He looks back at Josh and bites his bottom lip. "You know, if you want to do that more.."

"What, now?" Josh squeaks out.

Tyler smiles at him, softly. "Um, not necessarily right this minute. I think." He stops and Josh can see the hesitation in his face. "I kind of don't mind this right now." He holds their clasped hands up a little. "And maybe another date soon for the other thing.." He blushes a little more. "Probably should have started with holding hands but I guess we are doing everything else backwards here so why not."

They both laugh and then settle into a comfortable silence before Tyler is grabbing the remote again and pressing play.

Zombies are killed, popcorn gets cold and forgotten on the rectanglular table in front of them as palms get sweaty and fingers go numb. Somehow to Josh, it's almost better than the fleeting kiss from last night. And although he would never admit it, maybe he's slightly disappointed when his hand becomes his again and they are off to bed.

Josh definitely doesn't lay awake a couple of hours that night wondering if they will really kiss again on the next date.

And also wondering if he will ever get a good night's sleep again.

**

There's been no more contact between them for the past few days. Tyler did give him an awkward hug before work the other morning and they both quickly decided that wasn't necessarily needed.

It's now Sunday morning and Tyler's Sunday park, donut and coffee tradition seems to now be their tradition, before it's time to go grocery shopping again for the next week. They are sitting on the same bench near the stream as Josh bites into one of the weirder sounding donuts they had at the shop. It's some peanut butter and bacon concoction. "Mm, this is really good."

He holds it out to Tyler who makes a face and shakes his head. "I can't stand peanut butter." Josh shrugs and shoves the rest into his mouth. "So, when's your birthday? I remember the day we met you said it was this month."

Josh wipes his mouth and takes a sip of his coffee. "It's actually next Thursday."

"Have any plans for it yet?"

The sky around them darkens a little and Josh looks up. "Is it supposed to rain today?"

Tyler looks up too. "I don't think so."

Josh grabs another donut from the box. "I usually just go to my parent's house for dinner and then I go out for the rest of the night."

"Oh, okay. That sounds nice."

It is usually nice. It's what he's done for his birthday for as long as he can remember. A low-key, maybe slightly annoying dinner with his parents and Jenna's growing family. Then he gets to unwind at a club and bring someone home for the night. It's what he's used to but he quickly realises after he said that to Tyler, that this year isn't quite the same circumstances as usual. He definitely can't bring someone home now. Not that he is even really wanting to. "Um, do you want to come to dinner with me and we can go out after?"

Tyler looks at him and shrugs. "I don't want to impose or anything."

Josh laughs. "I'm sure my parents are going to insist on it anyway and plus Jenna and Evan will be there."

There's a look on Tyler's face that Josh can't really place. "Are you sure you want to bring me along after though? I don't really want to intrude...uh."

Josh realizes very quickly what Tyler's getting at. "Trust me, I have no interest in that part of my birthday tradition."

A smile plays at Tyler's lips as a hard breeze blows and what sounds close to distant thunder is heard. "Maybe we should go soon in case the weather does turn."

Josh hums in agreement as he starts eating his last donut.

Not more than a few minutes later, there's a sudden downpour of heavy rain. "Shit." Josh grabs their trash and starts running down the path back to the car. He stops after a minute when he doesn't hear Tyler behind him. He quickly runs back and sees Tyler speed walking. "What are you doing?"

Tyler points to his feet. "I have sandals on. Can't run. They keep slipping off."

Without even thinking twice, Josh squats down in front of Tyler, back facing him. "Hop on. Come on, we're getting soaked." Tyler hops on, wrapping his legs around Josh's waist tightly and his arms around his neck. Josh starts running. It's not as fast as he was before but it's a lot faster than Tyler was walking so thankfully they make it to the car pretty quickly.

Josh catches his breath as he starts the car. "I should have checked the radar on my weather app when it got dark but my hands were sticky."

Tyler laughs as he buckles himself in. "I've been caught in the rain so many times on my bike. I'm used to it."

When they get back to the house it's still raining. "Do you need me to carry you again?"

"I think I can make it to the door."

Once they get inside, they stay by the front door, dripping and shivering. "Uh, I'll go ahead and grab us some towels real quick so we don't get water all over the house." Josh quickly takes his socks and shoes off before walking towards the hallway, careful not to slip on water falling from his jeans. So much for being careful as he almost slips and falls when he's on his way back.

Tyler's close enough to reach out and catch him by the arms though. "Thanks." Josh mumbles, slightly embarrassed, as he hands Tyler a towel.

They both strip down to their boxers. Tyler wraps the towel around himself. "You're almost thirty, you may want to be careful with the falls. Broken hips aren't nice."

Josh fake gasps as he towels his arms off. "Hey, you're not allowed to come to my birthday party anymore." 

Tyler shoves his arm, playfully, a little harder than he probably was meaning to and Josh instantly loses his footing on the damp floor underneath him. Tyler tries to catch his fall again but fails this time and falls with Josh, landing on top of him.

Josh groans and winces. "Ow. I think I may have really broke a hip."

Tyler buries his face in his neck and laughs loudly before pulling away and bracing himself, over Josh, on his hands. "Sorry."

Josh feels drops of water dripping down on to his face from Tyler's slightly grown out shaved hair. He takes the towel in his hands and wipes Tyler's forehead. "You had some water." He says in between fading laughter from them both. They seem to simultaneously notice the position they are in and stare at each other for a second before scrambling up from the floor.

Josh clears his throat. "Right, uh we should get changed so we can leave back out when the rain stops."

**

That night, Josh climbs into bed and sets his alarm before he turns the lamp on his side off. He lays down, facing Tyler, watching him do the same.

Tyler lays facing him as well and Josh can just see a smile on his face in the barely moonlit room. "Sorry again for making you fall today."

Josh smiles back at him. "Nah, it's fine. You also saved me once so I guess it evens out."

With one last smile, Tyler starts turning around. He stops on his back and turns his head back to Josh. "For future reference, I would have considered the park today a date and I definitely consider dinner and the club a date so..." He finishes turning around. "Goodnight."

Josh gulps hard as he turns over too. One things for sure, he's definitely not getting a good night's sleep anytime soon.


	11. Si vis amari, ama

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you wish to be loved, love.  
> -Seneca

It doesn't feel like a typical birthday morning for Josh as he wakes up, that following Thursday. He anticipated waking up and feeling like his life was over, like he was too old to live anymore..The usual turning thirty panic. But the truth is, he wakes up feeling the opposite. For some unknown reason to him, he feels more alive than he has in a long time.

Even running off of barely any sleep.

The bed is empty when he stretches and looks over. The smell of bacon soon hits his nose though and he realizes why as he makes his way to the bathroom. When he washes his hands, before leaving out, he catches a glimpse of himself in the mirror. No matter what his mood says, his face definitely is saying I'm thirty and I'm tired.

Josh's eyes widen a little when he walks into the kitchen. They usual just eat at the island, so he isn't expecting to see Tyler setting the table with an impressive spread. "Wow." Josh doesn't quite know what else to say as he approaches the table.

Tyler turns around and smiles. "Hey, good morning. Happy birthday."

"Morning and thanks." Josh looks down at the table and wordlessly motions asking what it all is.

It takes a second for Tyler to catch on and Josh can see pink rising to the surface of his cheeks. "Oh, uh, breakfast. You know, it's your birthday."

Josh smiles. "Ah, yes. Okay. I'm relieved, I thought for a second that we were about to go into hibernation or something."

Tyler laughs and places one last plate onto the table. "Yeah, sorry. I got a bit carried away, didn't I."

"It looks amazing." Josh says, sitting down. "Thank you." He looks up and locks eyes with Tyler as he is handing him a cup of coffee, fingers briefly brushing his. Josh clears his throat and takes a quick sip, eyes anywhere but Tyler's. "So, um, are you nervous about dinner at my parent's tonight? I just know it must be a little weird."

"Your parents seem really great from the little time I've spent with them. So I guess not really. I still feel like I'm intruding though in a way."

Josh shakes his head as he stabs his fork into one of the pancakes, bringing it down to his plate. "Trust me, you're not intruding. Like I said, Sunday, they already assumed you were coming. I mean, we are married." In that moment, his mind decides to quickly flash through what that means the next year, shared holidays, events, maybe even a summer vacation. And really, he can't find it in himself to hate it. He doesn't dare look up at Tyler as he pours the syrup. He knows he must be blushing too.

Now he kind of wouldn't mind hibernating for a few months.

"Well still." Tyler says as he bites into a strawberry. "I'm not family so it feels intrusive."

Josh laughs as he cuts into his pancakes. "I think they see you as family now and you know Jenna definitely does." He finally looks up at Tyler and sees a look on his face like he wants to ask something but is holding back. "I would like you there too."

And that must be what was on Tyler's mind, because his face softens and the pink grows darker. "Okay." Tyler bites into another strawberry, smiling slightly.

**

Usually the busy schedule at work is a welcome thing lately. Especially since Josh seems to have so much more on his mind these days. As bad luck would have it, his day is very much the opposite of busy as he sits in his office, swiveling back and forth in his chair, while biting his nails. His mind is on one thing and one thing only...

Tyler.

Maybe he's a little happy that he isn't busy today after all. He's not sure he could even separate where the thoughts about Tyler end and his work duties begin. Thoughts that leave him mostly confused and with more questions than he has answers for.  The flirting, holding hands, dates, the kiss..was it all only for show? Josh wouldn't consider himself oblivious, usually, but he also doesn't know if Tyler is just being a really nice guy and going above and beyond or if there is something more.

He finds himself feeling something he hasn't felt in a very long time, vulnerable. Josh is sure that's supposed to scare him more than excite him the way it is.

**

Josh is in the bedroom, picking out his clothes for the night, when he hears Tyler calling his name from the bathroom. "Yeah?" He calls out, walking closer to the closed door.

"Can you come in here please?" The voice on the other side sounds hesitant and that makes Josh's stomach knot up, not knowing what to expect.

He throws the shirt he was holding, onto to the bed and moves back towards the door. "Uh, yeah, sure." His hand turns the handle, which is trembling slightly in his grasp.

He isn't sure what to expect, but Tyler standing there with a pair of hair clippers in his hand, is not it. Tyler waves them in his hand a little. "Mark usually does this for me and obviously he isn't here. I would have went over there today but I forgot and I don't let it get long.."

Josh steps his way and gently grabs the clippers from his hand. "I'll do it, it's no problem."

Tyler answers with a smile and whispered "Thanks" as he stands in front of the sink.

Josh stands behind him and looks at him in the mirror. "You're a little taller so I think you need to be lower than me." He watches in confusion as Tyler squats in front of him, moving a little lower than necessary. Josh has to bend his knees a little now too and they both end up doing a weird up and down dance of trying to match the heights right. After a minute, Josh gives up. "Maybe we should move this into the kitchen so you can sit on a chair."

Tyler hums and follows him out of the bathroom.

Josh plugs in the clippers as Tyler grabs a chair and places it in front of him. He watches him take off his shirt and place it on the counter, draping a towel over his shoulders and back as he sits down. Josh turns on the clippers and mindlessly runs his free hand through Tyler's hair. "So, are we thinking a really short mohawk or the Rachel cut from friends?" Josh hears what sounds close to a hitch of breath as his nails accidentally graze scalp. He might have mistaken it for the whirring of the clippers if it wasn't for the body under his hand tensing.

Tyler clears his throat, voice sounding a little rough but laced with amusement. "Maybe we'll save the mohawk for next time when I'm not meeting your parents for the third time ever."

Josh laughs as he replaces his hand with the clippers. "The Rachel it is then."

**

Walking into his parent's house this year for his birthday is definitely a new experience. Besides Jenna, he's never brought anyone else to this dinner, so he's nervous and not sure what to expect. There's an odd warm feeling in Josh's chest as he watches his parents hug and welcome Tyler, when they both get inside.

That feeling goes away the minute Josh sees Jenna eyeing him, suspiciously. He internally groans to himself as she walks to him, smirk on her face. "I knew it." She says with a tone that involuntarily makes his eyes want to roll. 

"According to you, you know everything so, congrats I guess." He's hoping the retort will throw her off a little but he isn't that lucky.

"Mhm. Well that is true but you know exactly what I'm talking about."

Josh looks at her and clicks his tongue. "Just gonna go ask, Bill if you can file a restraining order on someone for being annoying." He walks away and can hear her mumbling under her breath. 

His mom pulls him into a tight hug when he gets near. "Thirty. I don't know where the time has gone." She let's go of him and squeezes both sides of his face, looking at him with tears in her eyes. Josh is glad when she doesn't start crying and only briefly hugs him again.

Thankfully dinner is ready not too long after and they are sitting down to eat. He usually isn't in a rush to eat and leave but between Jenna's smug looks and his parent's questioning, he really wants to.

"So, how are you adjusting to everything, Tyler?" His mom asks as she passes a plate to him.

"Pretty good. Josh is great so it's been a really easy transition."

Josh's lips curve into a shy smile and he can feel his face flush, happy that Tyler isn't looking at him at that moment.

"I'm so glad to hear that." She says as places a plate in front of Josh. "We were worried about how the living situation would work out." She pats Josh's head. "Josh here is a bit particular and hasn't lived with anyone before."

"Never? Not even a boyfriend or roommate?" Tyler asks as he sips his water.

Before Josh can answer, his mom does. "Nope, just us. And gosh, Josh hasn't had a boyfriend in I think ten years?"

Josh's hand grips his fork, tightly as he hopes to god that everyone just stops talking.

That doesn't happen of course. 

His mom sits down. "What about you, dear? Were you living by yourself?"

Tyler shakes his head as he finishes chewing. "I was living with my best friend, Mark. Had been for a few years."

"I'm just surprised you weren't already snatched up." Jenna pipes in. "It probably hasn't been a decade for you like Josh though." Josh's head snaps up to her, sending her a look to please just stop.

Tyler looks mildly uncomfortable as he shifts in his chair. "Nope. Haven't been for a long time."

Josh is relieved when no one presses further. The rest of the dinner goes quickly and smoothly at least. Even with Jenna looking back and forth between him and Tyler the entire time with a knowing look on her face.

Jenna drags Josh out of the dining room by the arm and into his old bedroom, after everyone gets up from the table. "What?" He asks as she closes the door and stands in front of it, essentially blocking him from leaving out.

"Something happened didn't it?"

Josh gulps but tries to keep a poker face. "Jen, I don't even know what you are talking about."

He knows.

She crosses her arms. "Listen, you'd have to be blind not to notice the way you two were making love eyes at each other the whole time at the table. So either something happened already or something will."

"I um." Josh looks at the window, wondering if it's too high for him to jump from. "What?"

Jenna sighs and sits down on the bed. "When did you stop talking to me? You used to tell me everything. Now it's like pulling teeth just to get an answer from you."

Josh feels a little bad now as he sits down next to her. "I don't know. I'm sorry. It's just complicated and confusing."

"That's why you have me to talk to about stuff." Jenna wraps an arm around his back. "I know I can be a bit nosy but it's just cause I care and you let me." She says the last part with a smile and shoulder bump.

"Do you promise you won't get all screechy and loud on me if I tell you something?"

"Scouts honor."

Josh laughs. "You were in the girl scouts for what, a month. Do you even get to say that?"

"The uniform looked terrible on me." They both laugh as she retracts her arm and holds his hand instead. "I promise, now spill."

His hand is instantly clammy in hers. "Well, Tyler kissed me after our date over pie and now I think I really like him but I don't know if he likes me too." He says really rushed, taking in a deep breath after he finishes.

Josh can feel her shaking with excitement against him but thankfully she seems to rein herself in before saying anything. "He kissed you? How was it?"

He can't help but smile, fondly. "Yeah and it was great. Really quick but nice."

"Ew." She let's go of his hand and wipes hers on her shirt. "God, you'd think you were telling me you killed someone with the way you're sweating." _Yeah, you, if you breathe a word of this to Tyler_ , he thinks as she starts speaking again. "So why are you wondering if he likes you? I think a kiss seems pretty self explanatory."

"He said it was for practice for when we need to be affectionate with the whole fake marriage thing." He shrugs and looks at her. "It makes sense."

"Hm. It kind of does. Did anything else happen?"

"We held hands for a couple of hours, watching The Walking Dead, about a week ago."

She gasps and slaps his arm. "Hey, I've been trying to get you to watch that forever now. Tyler wants to and you're all over it."

Josh laughs. "Well he's cute and you're..you."

She gasps again. "I'll let you get away with that today, Joshua. Okay, now back to the hand holding.."

"Just practice again."

Jenna let's out a happy sigh. "Babe, I see the way he looks at you and honestly, I think the practicing." She does air quotes with her fingers. "Is just an excuse to touch and kiss you."

"I don't think.." Josh wrings his hands together. "I don't know what to think. That's why I'm confused."

"There's only one way to find out..." She wiggles her eyebrows at him, suggestively. "Make a move."

Josh smiles and rolls his eyes. "Of course you would say that but it's freaking scary, okay? What if we are both wrong here and he finds it weird and doesn't want to do this anymore." The smile drops as the fear sinks into every bone in his body.

Jenna grabs his hand again. "Well, let him make a move first then and trust me..he will."

"Yeah?"

"Positive."

"I'm scared though. It all scares me so much but I can't stop whatever is happening and can't help how I feel.."

"You just don't want to get hurt again." Jenna finishes for him as he nods his head. "Tyler is wonderful and he doesn't seem like the type to do that. I mean, he dropped his entire life for you. To marry you, a stranger, for your dream." She gives his hand one last squeeze. "I just don't see him hurting you. Even if things get a little hairy, I think he'll stick it out."

Everything Jenna said makes sense to him and she is right, Tyler doesn't seem like a bad person or someone who is wishy washy and would drop him. He feels like a weight has been lifted off of his shoulders some as he stands up, Jenna following. He hugs her and she lets out a surprised squeak. "Feel better?"

"A lot. Thank you."

Jenna untangles from the hug. "Before I forget, I have your birthday present." She says as she digs her hand into the front pocket of her jeans. "I think you're gonna love it." She wiggles her eyebrows again.

"You really have to stop doing that. It's creeping me out." She pulls a card from her pocket and hands it to him.

"Spa day tomorrow." She says smiling. "Oh and it's for two so you and Tyler are both going."

"Jen.. I have work tomorrow.."

"Not anymore. Already talked to Bill about it."

He smiles. "Thank you. I could use it and I think Tyler will like it." Josh tries his hardest not to blush, saying that.

"Just think of it as your late honeymoon." She winks and opens the door, leaving him standing there, still smiling and looking at the card.

He pockets it and leaves out after and minute, joining everyone in the living room. He doesn't see Tyler when he gets in there but hears laughing from the kitchen and makes his way there. Tyler is standing next to his mom, drying off the dishes she is handing to him.

Tyler glances his way. "We'll be done in a few."

His mom grabs the towel from Tyler's hands. "You guys go ahead. Thank you for your help." She hugs Tyler before walking up to Josh and doing the same. "He's so lovely." She whispers and places a peck on his cheek. "Have fun tonight and be careful."

They say their goodbyes to everyone and leave the house. Once outside, Josh orders an Uber. With them drinking tonight, Jenna is just going to drive his car to his house and leave it. Same as she does every year for him.

"So where are we going?" Tyler asks as they wait for the car.

"A place called Awol. It's on the small side but I thought it might not be as overwhelming for you since it's your first time at a gay bar."

"Not my first time."

Josh whips his head around, quickly, to Tyler and smiles in disbelief. "What? When?"

Tyler shrugs. "About a year ago. Mark talked me into it. I left after thirty minutes. Was too nervous and wasn't really ready for that anyway."

Josh nods his head in understanding. "Are you sure you're up for it tonight? We can just do something else."

Tyler smiles at him. "That's nice, thank you but not necessary. I'll be there with you so, I'm good."

The smile on Josh's face widens even more. "Okay."

The car arrives a few minutes later. "Forty nine Parsons Avenue, please." Josh says as they slide into the back seat.

**

It's still a little early when they get there but it's already packed with people. "I forgot this place is right next to the campus. Sorry I know it's crowded."

"It's not so bad." Tyler says as they sit down at the bar and looks around. "The crowd is definitely on the younger side though."

Josh winces, playfully. "Oh god, you're right. I'm surprised they let my old ass in."

Tyler laughs and places his hand on Josh's leg. "Yeah but your old ass still looks good so it's not shocking, really." It must have slipped out unintentionally, because Tyler pulls his hand back and mutters an apology.

"Oh please, it's fine and thank you. Nice to know I still have it at thirty." Josh laughs and tries to play it off, when all he just really wants to do is grab Tyler and kiss him, hard.

Tyler's face is beet red. "You're really good at that."

Josh looks at him, curiously. "At what?"

"Making people feel better."

"I don't think I can take credit for that. Jenna has always been a mama bear and comforter. I guess things are bound to rub off onto you after a while."

Tyler grabs a few pretzels from a bowl in front of them. "You should thank her. It's a nice quality to have."

Josh is pretty sure his face matches Tyler's now too.

**

They are a good four drinks in when Tyler excuses himself to go to the bathroom and Josh uses the moment to quickly text Jenna.

> Josh: He called me hot.
> 
> Jenna: I told you he liked you!!!!
> 
> Josh: Attraction doesn't mean like, still, so calm your tits.
> 
> Jenna: You are a blind and stupid stupid boy, I stg. And probably no calming these things down until Henry stops breastfeeding, honestly.
> 
> Josh: Okay, but what do I do? Should I ask him to dance? Is that too much?
> 
> Jenna: Do you think you can do that without humping him like I'm sure you usually do on your "nights out".

She has a good point, he thinks. He sees Tyler walking back.

> Josh: I have to go. I'll text you tomorrow.

He quickly puts his phone away while Tyler walks back up to him. Just then, Josh hears his name said from somewhere in the bar. His eyes go wide when he sees who it's coming from. He recognizes the guy as someone he hooked up with a few weeks ago. He tries to hide behind Tyler. "Please don't see me." He mumbles out as a pointless prayer.

"Josh, is that you?" The guy peeks behind Tyler, smiling.

Caught and with no where to run, Josh slinks out from behind Tyler and plasters on a fake smile. "Hey."

The guy, who's name Josh can't remember for the life of him, sips his drink through the tiny straw, smiling. "Hey to you too. You never called." The guy pokes out his bottom lip, briefly before smiling again.

"Didn't have your number." Josh answers. The truth is, he wouldn't have called anyway.

"Well, we had fun so how about I give it to you now?"

Josh really doesn't know what to say. He hates being rude, especially since the guy was nice from what he does remember.

"Actually." Tyler holds up the hand with the wedding ring on it. "He's taken, sorry." Tyler grabs Josh's hand and holds it up too.

Josh wants to hug him.

The guy looks back and forth between the rings and them before making a face and turning around to walk away. Josh sighs in relief before the guy turns his head around back to them. "I would maybe talk to your taken man if I were you." The guy grabs his own ass with the hand not holding his drink. "Cause he was in this not even a month ago."

Josh just stands there, mortified, with his mouth open as the guy walks away. He hears Tyler start laughing, loudly, beside him. "Not funny."

Tyler finally stops laughing. "It was pretty funny." He wipes the tears from his eyes. "I don't think he took the marriage news too well."

Josh laughs and Tyler joins in. When the laughter dies down, Josh notices the scowling faces looking at them. He suddenly realises how the whole scene must have looked to everyone else. "Want to get out of here?"

"You sure?"

Josh takes one last look around, feeling a little embarrassed. "Definitely."

When they get outside, Josh doesn't call for an Uber yet. "There's an ice cream place right up the street. It should still be open. Want to walk there?"

"Yeah, that sounds good."

Josh's heart skips a beat when Tyler grabs his hand, as they start walking, and interlaces their fingers. "I feel a little bad though. The dude probably thinks he just broke up a marriage."

"I wouldn't worry about it." Josh squeezes his hand. "Thank you for saving me back there though."

Tyler smiles. "Well I think I figured out you were uncomfortable the minute you hid behind me."

"Understament." He mumbles. A few minutes later, Josh holds the door open to the ice cream shop for Tyler once they get there. He notices the hours on it. "They close really soon so we can just get it to go and walk more if you want?"

Tyler nods. "That's cool."

They order and leave out, walking the opposite direction from the bar. Josh doesn't want to chance another hookup encounter.

"It's nice out tonight."

Josh hums in agreement as he takes a bite of his waffle cone, feeling slightly dejected that their hands are busy and not holding each other.

They are both tired, so the ice cream is finished quickly and Josh is getting an Uber. Tyler turns to him as they are waiting. "So, did you have a good birthday?"

"Yeah, it was actually really nice." He smiles at Tyler. "Sorry you had to find out about me cheating on you though."

Tyler feigns a hurt expression. "I'm keeping Jenna in the divorce. You know, for all of the pain and suffering you caused."

"Honestly, you can have her, divorce or not." Josh laughs as the Uber arrives.

**

"Finally." Josh toes his shoes off the minute they get inside of the house. "I'm exhausted."

"Too tired for your birthday present from me?" Tyler eyes him, smile on his face as he takes his shoes off too.

If there is a record for how fast someone shakes their head no, Josh is pretty sure he just broke it. Tyler gives him a funny look but is still smiling. "Alright, I'll be right back."

Maybe Josh pouts a little at that because he honestly was expecting a kiss to be the present, since Tyler pretty much hinted at one on their next date.

Tyler is back within seconds, wrapped gift in hand. "It's nothing much." He hands it too him.

Josh tears into the paper, confusion on his face when he sees the object.

"It's a first dollar made frame." Tyler points to the small plaque in the frame. "You can engrave the date too. It's for the music store. You know, for the first dollar you make."

Josh runs his hand over the smooth black frame. "Wow. I really love it. Thank you so much." He says, sincerely as he looks at Tyler. "You really believe in me don't you?"

Tyler ducks his head a little but Josh can see him smiling, shyly. "Yeah, I do."

As much as he tries to fight it or blame it on being tired, he feels tears pool in his eyes as the words Jenna said today, at his parents, play back in his head about Tyler dropping his life for him. For the store. His dream. Josh can't help what comes over him as he sets the frame down and walks toward Tyler. He's apprehensive about what he's going to do but decides to throw caution to the wind anyway.

"Josh?" Tyler raises an eyebrow at him, voice shaky. He doesn't look scared, curious more than anything.

Josh doesn't answer him. He wraps an arm around Tyler's waist, pulling him close, other hand gently cupping the back of his neck, letting his fingernails lightly scratch the bottom of Tyler's freshly shaven head. Their mouths are close, breaths heavy. "You're fucking incredible." He says, eyes closed as he closes the gap between their lips. Josh moves his lips slowly, carefully, trying not to overwhelm Tyler. To his surprise though, Tyler throws his arms around his neck and kisses him back harder.

He can feel Tyler's heart beating, wildly, against his chest as Josh slowly walks them until Tyler's back hits a wall. That causes a small gasp to leave Tyler's mouth and Josh takes the moment to slip his tongue in. Arms curl around his neck tighter, pulling him closer. The kiss gains momentum quickly, teeth clack, tongues weave together, the moment feeling like a hazy blur of pure adrenaline. Their lips smacking together, soft grunts and gasps are the only thing Josh can hear over his own heart hammering, blood rushing through his ears, fingertips digging into Tyler's back.

He never wants it to stop.

But it does when he gets swept up in the moment and rolls his hips against Tyler's. The moan vibrating into his mouth shocks him back into reality and what he just did. He pulls away. "Shit, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to do that." It was instinctual; what he normally would do. This is not the normal situation though.

Tyler rests his forehead against his and laughs, hoarsely. "It's fine but I definitely don't think the co-executor needs all of that."

Josh licks his lips and clears his throat, trying to take a second to pull himself together. "Yeah but if they are looking for authenticity, it may just get the job done."

They separate after a few seconds of mutual laughter. Josh is happy that it doesn't feel like a sudden awkward situation filled with regret. In a weird way, to him, everything feels right.

**

Josh feels a little unsteady on his feet, head swimming, still reeling from what just happened, as they both walk to the bedroom to change and go to sleep. He pulls the gift card from his pocket before taking off his jeans. "Jenna got us a spa day tomorrow for my birthday."

Tyler pulls his shirt over his head. "Both of us? That was nice of her."

Josh's eyes leave Tyler's torso. "She said it is our honeymoon or something."

Tyler hums. "At least we have something to say now if we get asked."

Josh puts on a pair of shorts. "I think it was just her excuse to just get us all of the couple's stuff there." He slips into bed, watching Tyler finish changing. He pulls the blanket over his face a little as he blushes. Tyler's face is still flushed a little from their earlier activities and Josh can't help but stare and bite his bottom lip.

Tyler gets under the covers quickly after. "Ugh, this feels amazing."

With both lights now off, Josh pulls the blanket down from his face. "It does." He sees Tyler scoot a little closer than he normally does in the bed.

He can't see him too well but can see him looking at him with a smile on his face. "Goodnight, Josh."

Josh says goodnight as well but neither of their eyes close though. They lay there for a while, just looking at each other, until Tyler's slowly slips under. Josh doesn't even bother rolling over. With the nights events replaying in his head, he's already given up hope of falling asleep anytime soon. Eventually he does though, with the anticipation of what is going to come next, on his mind.

He definitely realizes that everything has changed. He's just hoping it has for the better.


	12. Carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seize the day, trust as little as possible in tomorrow.  
> -Horace

Ever hear the saying, the higher you build walls, the harder you fall when someone tears them down? Neither has Josh Dun, but he is experiencing that first hand. Although, at the moment, he is completely oblivious to it.

They are currently being led into one of the private mudbath rooms at the spa. They just arrived and checked in not long ago. Josh was a little nervous about what to expect. Given that Jenna planned everything, he was right to feel that way. Mud is not exactly what he was anticipating though. _If she is going for romance, this is a bit off base_ , Josh thinks as the sulfur smell, from the bath, hits his senses and his nose wrinkles up.

He and Tyler share confused smiles and shrugs as the attendant explains the process of getting in and out safely and what they can expect afterwards. Josh looks around as she points toward an open shower across the room. "After you get out, you'll be able to wash the mud off of yourselves and then get into the mineral water jacuzzi tub for a little while before I take you both into the cool down room for the blanket wrap."

Josh huffs out a laugh under his breath as he realizes that both he and Tyler are completely naked under their robes. Jenna's intentions suddenly become all too clear. There is no way he and Tyler are about to take a nude shower and soak together. "Actually," Josh speaks up before they slip off their robes, Tyler looking just as hesitant as he feels, "Can I quickly run back to the changing room and grab our swim trunks?" They both brought them just in case.

The lady raises an eyebrow at him but gently smiles, "Yes, of course, go ahead. Whatever makes your experience more comfortable."

After he grabs their swim suits, he quickly types out a text saying _nice try_ to Jenna before shoving his phone back into the locker and making his way back to the room. The attendant is gone when he opens the door back up.

"Thanks," Tyler says when Josh tosses his shorts to him. There is nowhere private to change but they both seem to simultaneously get the same idea as they slip the swimwear on, under their robes, which are discarded onto nearby hooks right after.

Josh hisses as he holds on to the railing and lowers himself into the really hot mud. The squelching sound, as he sits, makes him grimace. It feels gross. He let's his head loll back onto the headrest once he's completely submerged; the heat seems to transfer straight to his joints and he let's out a contented sigh. Josh turns his head to the side as he hears the same noise come from the tub Tyler is in, next to him.

Tyler looks his way, smiling. "Feels a bit weird but amazing too."

Josh hums in agreement. He doesn't really know what else to say. The whole morning, since they woke up, has just been pink faces, nervous smiles and small talk between them. He'd be lying if he said he didn't feel a little embarrassed about last night. Although Tyler didn't seem to mind, Josh wishes that he would have not been so... aggressive.

Not with Tyler, anyway.

The attendant comes back in a few minutes later to apply clay masks on their faces and then leaves back out. Josh turns his head again as Tyler starts talking. "I'm thinking of inviting Mark over for dinner tomorrow night. I've been a little busier lately and we haven't really gotten to spend a lot of time together. If you don't mind of course. I can always just go over..."

"No, it's completely fine. It's your home too." He and Mark aren't exactly fast friends but he can't say no to whatever makes Tyler happy. What's another awkward dinner, day or situation at this point.

The clay cracks a little around Tyler's mouth as a smile forms. "Okay, thanks."

A few minutes later, Josh's eyes just start to close as the door opens back up and he sees the woman walk to the shower and turn it on. "You guys can go ahead and wash the mud off and get into the tub. I'll be back in thirty minutes, enjoy."

"Fifteen minutes flew by," Tyler says as they both stand up, climbing over their concrete tubs and starting their careful walk to the shower. "How do people not slip?"

Just as the words leave Tyler's lips, Josh has to grab him by the waist to keep him from falling and pulls him onto the textured mat he is walking on. "You have to walk on these; kind of slip resistant." Josh laughs. "Were you not paying attention when the attendant was telling us that?"

"Honestly, not really. Was hard to think past the smell."

Josh let's go of Tyler as they laugh in unison. "It reminds me a little of this ranch our class went to on a field trip when I was a kid. God, I wanted to be a cowboy for a solid month after that." They reach the shower and awkwardly shuffle around each other to both get under one of the shower heads. It's not the biggest area but that probably usually doesn't matter because it's actual couples who don't mind constantly brushing against one another.

Josh doesn't mind it so much either.

"So, cowboy, huh? I can see that."

He finishes rinsing his face before turning around towards Tyler, smiling. "Yeah?"

Without the mud covering it, Tyler's face turns the same flushed shade it's been wearing since they woke up. "Well, I mean, tight jeans, the boots and hat.. yeah, definitely."

With the flirting, Josh's face turns a matching color; he ducks his head a little and bites his bottom lip. "I think I'm totally missing my calling here then. Should I buy my own ranch instead of a music store?"

"It does have it's appeal."

Josh smiles wider as he turns around to clean the mud out of the front of his shorts. "Well if this is what I have to look forward to, how can I say no?"

He just finishes rinsing off as he feels Tyler touch him from behind. "Here, let me help you with your back." Josh's hands move to the tiled wall in front of him as other hands start gliding across his skin, slowly. "Dun Ranch. Kind of has a nice ring to it."

"Mhm," Josh hums as he closes his eyes and tries to steady his breathing. Tyler's touch feels great.

When the hands reach the small of his back, he feels warm breath close to his ear. "I would definitely have to come check it out."

His eyes fly back open. The words are innocent but the tone is suggestive, causing him to swallow the hard lump in his throat. He doesn't want to chance embarrasing himself like last night and before he even realizes what he's doing, Josh moves away and starts walking towards the tub. "I think I'm clean, are you clean?" he sputters out, quickly. He glances back at Tyler, who's just standing there with a curious smile on his face. "Are you clean?" he mutters in a mocking tone as he gets into the jacuzzi, which in his opinion is more like a regular bath tub but with jets.

It's going to be a tight squeeze with both of them in it.

Tyler joins him a couple of minutes later, same smile on his face as he steps in on the opposite end. Josh moves his legs over so Tyler's can fit next to them. "They weren't kidding when they said tub."

"The water smells really nice, at least," Josh says as he cups some of it into his hands and sniffs it. "Like roses."

Tyler does the same before sinking back against the tub. "It really does."

It's just the sound of the bubbling water as Josh looks around the room for a minute and then back at Tyler, who now has his eyes closed. He doesn't like staring but he can't help it. To him, Tyler is definitely one of the most beautiful people he has come across.

Inside and out.

He could honestly just lay there all day, doing nothing but this and being perfectly content. It's a strange feeling for him to feel so comfortable with someone. Connections don't happen that easily for him.

Especially not with someone so new in his life.

It's become clear to him that Tyler isn't just anyone though. He actually wants to take the time to get to know him. As his eyes scan the face in front of him, for the tenth time, heat creeps up his neck and his stomach floods with butterflies; he doesn't know how he got so lucky that Tyler answered the ad...married him. Just as that thought dissipates from his mind, another one replaces it.

_Tyler isn't really his though and this could all be over in a week._

The butterflies turn to stone and his stomach sinks with them; Tyler could be gone and it would be like this never happened. Of course he wouldn't stay, why would he? Even if this feeling goes both ways, it's still so fragile and new that he's not sure Tyler would even want to take it further. He even talks about this being over like it's nothing. Josh feels a little stupid for even allowing himself to become attached to him.

It's like Tyler can read his mind as his eyes open and meet his. "Not to break up the relaxing vibes or anything but I was just thinking about next week and I'm a bit nervous about it."

Even though the situation isn't funny, Josh can't help but laugh, feeling relieved that he isn't the only one that is worried. "Yeah I'm a bit nervous too. I think not knowing exactly what to expect doesn't help."

"It's kind of crazy that this one person could just be like _nope_ and it would be over."

There is a slight sadness in Tyler's voice as he says that and Josh is hopeful that it's maybe for the same reason. He's glad he has more restraint than last night because all he wants to do is pull Tyler onto his lap and hug him; he shakes the thought away though. "I'm just curious who it is. I guess that's going to determine how easy or hard it's gonna be to get away with it."

"True. I'm wondering if they are going to ask why we don't have pictures of each other on our social media accounts and stuff like that."

Josh laughs. "I actually don't have any accounts. Not really my thing."

Tyler shrugs. "I don't either but it might look good if one of us makes a Facebook page with a picture of us together as the profile pic. It could be made private so no one can see that it doesn't have any posts."

"That's actually not a bad idea. It could be one for us both like some couples do."

Another blush and smile spread across Tyler's face. "And it would say Josh and Tyler Dun or something?"

Hearing Tyler refer to himself by Josh's last name resurrects the butterflies and he can't help but smile too. "Yeah or something." When Tyler looks away, Josh sees a patch of mud on the top of his neck. "You missed a spot." Josh points to his neck.

Tyler blindly touches at his neck. "Where?"

"Right where your hand was." He still doesn't manage to wipe it away so Josh sits up and and moves toward him. "Here, I'll get it." The way that Tyler's legs spread for him to get between them when he gets closer, has his heart speeding up. He wets his hand and cups Tyler's neck, rubbing the mud off with his thumb. "There," he says as his eyes flick up to Tyler's. Neither one seem to be moving away, so Josh's hand doesn't either. As he looks into his eyes, he just wants to tell him to please just stay if everything fails.

To give this a chance, him a chance.

The restraint he was feeling earlier, is slowly slipping as Tyler's eyes move down to his lips before licking his own. Just as Josh is about to lean in and kiss him, a loud knock on the door sends him scrambling back, quickly.

The attendant walks in. "It's time for the cool down room now. I'll go ahead and step out again so you both can get your robes back on. I'll be waiting outside of the door."

"Remind me to text Jenna after we get dressed to tell her thank you," Tyler says, smiling as they get out and put on their robes.

Josh kind of wants to thank her now too.

**

Thirty minutes later, they are just finishing getting dressed in the changing room when Tyler turns to him. "There's a sign for the spa on the wall over there. Might be a good place to take our profile picture in front of. Makes it look like we at least do stuff together."

"Yeah, okay." Josh pulls his phone out of his pocket as they walk over to the wall and stand shoulder to shoulder. He clicks the camera and turns it front facing. He really likes the way they look together as their faces show up on the screen. They lean their heads together and smile as he snaps the picture. Josh brings the phone down and they look at it.

"I have a better idea... if you want?"

He doesn't miss the way Tyler eyes his lips again as he says that. "Sure." Josh holds the phone back up as two fingers suddenly grip his chin, turning his head. He doesn't even have time to question it before lips are on his. "Mm," he moans against Tyler's mouth, tongue slipping in.

Before it can progress any further, the lips stop. "Josh?"

"Hm?"

Tyler smiles. "The picture."

Josh completely forgot about that. "Oh, right." Their lips touch again and he briefly glances at the screen before taking the picture. All too soon it's over and they are looking at his phone again. "Good?"

Tyler nods. "Perfect. We can set up the account tonight if you want?"

Josh clears his throat as he pockets his phone again. "Sounds good."

**

That night they are sitting on the couch, huddled together over his phone as Josh uploads the picture. "Okay, Josh and Tyler Dun. Columbus, Ohio. Married. Should I put something for the occupation?"

"Just leave it, I guess."

Josh makes the page private and finalizes it. "We're now Facebook official," he jokes and Tyler laughs. He looks down at his phone one last time, smiling, before gently tossing it onto the coffee table and grabbing the remote for the tv. "Walking Dead?"

Tyler curls up against him. "I think we are on the last episode of the first season now."

Josh wraps an arm around Tyler's shoulders as the episode starts, pulling him even closer. He was right last night, things have definitely changed between them.

Right now though, it feels like it's for the better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, big thank you to my lovely friend Basttop with the help brainstorming :))


	13. Amor ordinem nescit

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Love does not know order.  
> -Saint Jerome

Dinner with Mark over the weekend had went well, much to Josh's surprise. He could tell Tyler had probably all but pleaded for Mark to be nice and not give him a hard time. It seemed to work. Mark didn't even so much as look twice or throw a disapproving scowl his way when Josh absentmindedly kissed Tyler on the cheek when he was leaving out of the kitchen to go back outside to finish barbequing.

He doesn't even know why he did it but he was thankful for small mercies that no one spoke of it again.

It's now the day before the co-executor is supposed to go there and read the will. These days, copies are usually just mailed to the people in the will but this isn't the normal circumstances. Jenna finally finished the photo album and framed pictures and has just arrived to help set them up.

The door opens and she is walking in with Henry strapped to her chest in a carrier. She has a sympathetic look on her face as she gives Josh the two bags in her hands. "Big day tomorrow."

"Yep," Josh answers as he carries the bags to the table and sets them down.

Tyler gives Jenna a quick peck before turning his attention to Henry. "Hey there again." He gently pulls him from the carrier and brings him to the couch and sits down. Josh looks over. He has to admit, his heart maybe flutters a little at the sight. He doesn't know when it's happened but everything Tyler does lately has seemed to have that affect on him.

Jenna must notice his gaze as she walks over to him and leans close to his ear. "He looks good with a baby."

Josh hates that his first thought is that he really does. True to his stubbornness, he isn't going to admit that out loud though. "To be fair, he looks great no matter what." That much he won't deny, and it seems to satisfy the eager gleam in Jenna's eyes. The bags are emptied, Josh eyeing the contents. "Do you think this is enough?"

Jenna pulls the carrier over her head and places it on the table, sighing. "I hope so; didn't have much to work with but I think it will be okay." She does a small squeal before grabbing one of them and holding it up. "This one is my favorite."

It's one of the wedding pictures. The one where they were on the bench and Tyler was on his lap. Josh smiles as a finger drags across the glass. He remembers how much he already liked Tyler.

And how much that scared him at the time.

"You're gonna put smudges on the glass." Jenna grabs it from his hands and walks away, finding a spot for it on the kitchen counter. "Perfect."

He leaves her to set them up wherever she thinks is best and sits on the couch next to Tyler. "The pictures came out great, at least."

"Yeah? That's good," Tyler says in a cooing voice as he noses the top of Henry's head. "He's such a good baby."

"Mhm," Josh hums as he shifts a little closer to Tyler. "For all of her faults, Jenna is a great mom."

"I heard that," comes from the dining room and they both laugh.

"You know, I thought I would have kids by this age." At the words, suddenly Josh feels like he's now too close to Tyler and can hardly be discreet when he stills. If Tyler notices, he doesn't let on. "Life sometimes has a funny way of not exactly ending up how we plan it though."

**

The evening lapses into night and Josh is just finishing the dishes from dinner when Tyler emerges from the basement with a photo album in his hands. "When you're done, can you come sit on the couch? I want to talk to you about something."

The nervousness on Tyler's face transfers over to Josh's and he instantly feels anxious. With the contemplative silence and thought Tyler had seemed to be lost in since Jenna left, Josh easily guesses what this is about.

He isn't sure if he's ready to hear it again.

Tyler is gripping the book to his chest as Josh sits down next to him. "I," he stops and looks at him, and for a second, Josh thinks he isn't going to continue. "I know that you know about Claire." His heart stops. "Mark told me you saw the picture that night you and Jenna came over."

"You don't have to," Josh interrupts.

"No, I need to. You should know about her in case the person asks."

"Screw them and the money if you're not ready for this." He means it. What Tyler has been through is more than he can even begin to imagine. It can't be easy having such a painful past laid bare to someone that he hasn't even known that long.

Tyler shakes his head as he opens the album, letting one side of it fall onto Josh's lap, the other side on his. "It's okay, really. I still want you to know her and know what happened."

Along with short explainations, their life together unfolds from each page to the next, giving Josh a small glimpse into what exactly Tyler lost.

It hurts and it takes everything in him not to cry like he did the night he found out.

They were highschool sweethearts, went to the same college and married right after his graduation. She was still in medical school at the time. The book closes sooner than it should to pages left unfilled, and Tyler stares straight ahead. "I don't want to go into details. It's not important and I just...I can't. Not right now. It was a car accident." He quickly glances at Josh. "I was driving."

Josh doesn't know what to say or if he can say anything at all. He already knew about the accident but didn't read far enough to know that Tyler was in it too.

"I don't want pity," Tyler says before standing up. "I've grieved and cried more tears than humanly possible. I probably won't ever completely be the same person I was but I've managed to move on as much as I can and I'm in a happy place in my life right now."

Josh can only slowly blink and nod before Tyler is walking away. The bike he rides everywhere suddenly makes complete sense. He's too scared to drive. Josh doesn't blame him. He also can't help but be even more amazed by Tyler's strength.

The guilt alone would have destroyed him. 

Two hours later as they lay in bed, face to face, neither doing more than looking at each other, Tyler surprises him when he leans in and briefly brushes his lips against his. "I wanted to say thank you for being so patient and letting me tell you about it on my own and for never treating me differently."

"Of course," Josh says a little more hoarsely than he means to.

Another soft kiss and Tyler is turning around, so Josh does too, hoping to get any sleep he can manage for tomorrow.

It's going to be a long day.

**

Josh has practically been glued to the living room window since he got off of work. Adrenaline is the only thing keeping him upright at the moment. Between the heavy conversation last night and the nerves about today, he maybe only got two hours of sleep.

Tyler isn't fairing much better. He's been darting around the house cleaning whatever he can, trying to keep himself busy. It's just them there. As much as Josh wants his parents there for moral support, he figures it is best to not seem nervous and like he needs it because he has something to hide.

His heart races and his vision momentarily blacks when he sees a taxi pull up in the driveway. "Tyler," he says, voice shaky. "Someone's here."

Tyler quickly walks to the window too and soothingly runs a hand over his back. "It's gonna be fine. Breathe."

He really can't breathe when he sees who gets out of the car. "Oh my god." He quickly pulls out his phone and calls his dad, who thankfully answers on the first ring. "Why is Aunt Susan here?"

"Shit," is said on the other side of the line. "I was hoping it wouldn't be her."

Even though she lives out of state, Josh has a good relationship with his aunt and can't say anything bad about her. She's the youngest of his aunts and uncles but is by far the most intimidating. He watches her pull an overnight bag out of the trunk and really starts to panic. "Why the hell does she have luggage?" he whisper-shouts into the phone.

He ends the call right as the doorbell is ringing. Tyler pulls him into a hug. "Sh, it's gonna be fine, okay? We're going to do great." Josh reluctantly pulls away and then starts walking towards the door, taking a deep breath before opening it.

"Aunt Susan?" Josh moves to the side to let her in. "What are you doing here?"

"You know exactly why I'm here, Joshua. Like I think for a second that your father didn't show you the will." Her tone has Tyler recoiling behind him a little as she extends her hand. "You must be the elusive husband, Tyler."

"That's me. Nice to meet you."

She let's go of his hand and turns back to Josh. "Thank you for the invite to the wedding, by the way. Was lovely getting to hear all about it from Bill and Laura."

Josh grimaces. "Sorry," he says as he hugs her and then takes her bag. "It was literally only a handful of people. We didn't want anything big and didn't think it was worth anyone flying in for." He holds up the bag. "In town for the night? I can drive you to your hotel after."

She smirks as she starts glancing around the living room. "Yes and no need, I'm staying here tonight."

Josh swallows, hard, as he looks past her and to Tyler, who is standing there just as wide eyed as he is right now. "Of course. I'll show you to the guest room." This is a twist he definitely didn't expect or even plan for. "Here you go," he says as he opens the door and walks to the bed, laying her bag down on it.

She sets her purse down as well before walking back into the hallway. "Should I even bother grabbing the folder from my bag and reading out the will?"

Josh shakes his head before following her as she gives herself a tour of the house. He stays back in the living room with Tyler while she goes down to the basement, desperate to try regroup somehow. "I have no idea what's happening right now," he says as he presses his forehead to Tyler's, taking in deep breaths. "We are so screwed; I just know it."

"We're not. We just need to act natural and do what we've been preparing for." Tyler places his hands on Josh's hips and pulls him a little closer before smiling. "You can even grind on me against the wall again if you think it will help."

Josh laughs as he untangles from him before sighing and rubbing a hand over his face. "Yeah, definitely not. That's the aunt I accidentally sent the nude pic to before. I think she has seen enough of that side of me."

The laughing ceases at the sound of the basement door closing and the click of heels getting closer. "I really like what you've done with the house. It's quite different from when you first bought it."

"Thanks."

She must notice how tense they both look. "Relax, guys. I'm not here to interrogate you." She smiles. "Not too much at least. I don't really care if I'm being honest and just want to do what mom asked of me and get back home." They all move to the kitchen table and sit down. "So, where did you two meet?"

"You remember Tasi?"

She wrinkles up her nose. "You don't still eat there every week? I don't see how you like that place."

He fights the urge to roll his eyes. "Not much anymore, no. Well, I was there two years ago and we got put at a table together since they were busy and just really hit it off. He's gorgeous and has a great personality, so I knew I couldn't leave without getting his number."

Tyler smiles at him.

His aunt barely looks impressed though and with her next question, he finds out why. "So, I'm guessing this one was meant to be the recipient of that wonderful picture I got a year and a half ago?"

Josh freezes. He completely forgot that the text was during the time they were supposed to be together. "Uh, yeah."

"So, Brian must be a nickname or pet name of yours then?" she quips as she looks at Tyler.

Josh chokes.

"Actually," Tyler starts, without missing a beat. "We weren't really exclusive for a while." He gestures towards Josh. "You know how this one is with his commitment hang ups."

Susan laughs. "That sounds Josh alright." She smiles at Tyler. "You must be pretty special to get this one to settle down."

Josh grabs the hand Tyler is resting on the table before looking at him and smiling too. "Yeah, he definitely is." He can't help but feel nervous saying that since these are real feelings that they haven't even had the chance to fully figure out or tell each other.

They both turn their attention back to his aunt as she starts talking again. "Is that Greek place on high street still open?"

"Uh, yeah I think so."

She goes to stand up. "Good, I'm starving. I'm just going to get changed really quick."

Confused, Josh stops her before she walks away. "You don't want to ask us more? Like how much money is in each other's bank accounts or what color our tooth brushes are?"

She smiles, raising an eyebrow. "Joshua, I've been married to Ron for fifteen years and don't even know that information. What have you been reading?" Josh flushes as he shrugs. It seems like they both over thought the situation a little. "I'm just here to make sure you're actually married. Nothing mandated how I have to do that."

She leaves the dining room and they both get up to go change as well. Once in the bedroom, they both let out long breaths. "I'm not sure now if it's a good thing or bad thing that she is doing it her own way," Josh says as he pulls his shoes off. "We were better prepared for it in the textbook sense." His head suddenly shoots up at Tyler. "Shit, I guess that means she is just watching us as a couple then? Can we even really pull this off? She's been married for a long time; I think she'll know we're really..."

Tyler quickly wraps himself around him. "Calm down. It's okay. Honestly, freaking out is probably the worst give away right now." He stops and gently pulls Josh's face up to his. "Look at me. Um, we like each other, right?"Josh nods. "So, it shouldn't be that hard to act like a couple."

Josh shrugs as Tyler let's go of his face. "I'm just scared because we're really not one though."

Tyler smiles as he unbottons and pulls his jeans down. "Josh, we're married. We live together, cook together, sleep together, kiss... I think we'll be okay. If all else fails, we can just plow her with alcohol at dinner and she probably would believe anything we tell her then."

Josh laughs. "Are you sure you haven't been drinking?" The newfound boldness and confidence coming from Tyler is confusing but appreciated. It's probably the only thing keeping Josh calm enough to finish getting dressed and to walk out of their bedroom like nothing is wrong.

**

"Thankfully no plowing of drinks seems necessary yet," Tyler whispers to him thirty minutes into dinner. He finishes off the statement with a light kiss right under Josh's ear that makes his breath catch in his throat.

He can't help but turn his head and give Tyler an amused but questioning look. It's only met with a smirk and Josh has to keep himself from kissing it right off of his mouth. But then he remembers they are supposed to be affectionate and acting like a real couple, after all, so he returns the smirk before kissing him.

A bit harder than he means to.

Tyler must be caught off guard, because Josh feels a hand move to his thigh and grasp it even harder in surprise. It's broken from a clear of a throat across the table and talking, "I forgot how sickeningly lusty the whole newlywed phase is. Enjoy it while it lasts though."

Tyler is smiling, cheeks pink, as they pull apart.

Josh just wants to kiss him again.

A few minutes later, Tyler is excusing himself to go to the restroom and Josh just watches him as he walks away.

"You have it so bad."

"Huh?" His gaze meets his aunt's, who is the one now smirking.

"Oh," Susan says, eyes wide, before she takes a sip of her water. "You haven't even realized it yet, have you?" Josh just stares, not even sure what she means but the look on his face must say enough. "You'll figure it out soon."

The strange statement leaves him oddly anxious while they sit in silence until Tyler returns a few minutes later. The tension in the air must be obvious. "Is everything okay?" Tyler asks while looking between them.

"Yeah," Josh answers with a smile. Even though he has a nagging feeling he can't quite place, he has no reason to believe otherwise.

The rest of dinner goes flawlessly. Josh is impressed with how easy it was to pretend and how well they seemed to work together. It was natural and he's thankful that they prepared so much for it. 

Getting to actually act like a couple, has Josh practically high on it all.

On the ride home, they steal glances of each other and share smiles in the rearview mirror, with Tyler in the back seat and his aunt in the front. Josh is high alright.

On Tyler.

**

It doesn't surprise him the next morning when he awakens to an empty bed and the smell of food cooking. He's stretching, feeling content, until he hears Susan's voice, joined by Tyler's. Realisation that Tyler has been left alone with her for who knows how long, has his palms instantly slicking with sweat. He's on his feet and walking to the kitchen without even bothering to stop and use the bathroom or put a shirt on.

They both turn around from the stove when he walks closer. He looks straight at Tyler, trying not to look panicked. "You could have woke me up." Tyler doesn't look tense or nervous like he expected. It must have not been too intrusive.

"That's my fault, sorry," Susan answers. "I wanted to get a little one on one time with Tyler." Josh exhales, still half asleep. "Go get dressed, Joshua. Flashbacks."

The way Tyler's eyes trail him before they finally meet his has him flushing. He silently mouths, "Go, everything is fine here," to him and Josh bites his lip , nodding before walking away.

He knows he should just relax some and to stop worrying about every little thing but a lot is riding on this. A lot to lose. As he steps into the bathroom, his throat constricts a little uncomfortably at the thought that he wasn't even thinking about losing the money just now.

He was only thinking about Tyler.

After breakfast, his aunt is bringing her bag into the living room and they are waiting for Bill to arrive to pick her up. As much as Josh has enjoyed her company, he's glad she is spending her last few hours before her flight back home, with the rest of the family. When his dad pulls up, Tyler takes her bag for her and goes to bring it to the car, allowing them a moment to say goodbye.

She hugs him tightly. "You treat him good. Don't mess this up."

He pulls away. "I don't plan on it."

Susan smiles as she adjusts her purse over her shoulder. "What I said at dinner last night."

"Yeah..."

"It's not just one sided." With one last smile and look that leaves Josh even more confused, she is gone and Tyler is walking back inside.

The door closes as the car pulls out of the driveway. Josh barely has time to react as arms are thrown around his neck and a mouth is on his. He can feel the relief melt from them both as the kiss deepens but stays slow. His arms wrap around Tyler's waist, pulling him closer. He feels teeth over and over as Tyler keeps smiling against his lips.

Josh just feels dizzy.

With one last touch of lips, he pulls away to catch his breath. "She's gone," he says in an unintentional whisper. "We don't have to...do that anymore." Not that he doesn't want to. Josh wants nothing more.

"Hm." Tyler hasn't stopped smiling. "Guess that's true, but we don't want to be rusty for when she pops back in for the randoms, right?" He momentarily forgot about those. They were wondering how that was going to work out with her living out of state. She wasn't too happy about it either but the weekend flights for the next eleven months were already booked through his grandmother's lawyer.

As much as Josh pried, his aunt wouldn't tell him when they were.

Tyler is walking away before he can respond. "We should celebrate tonight if you want to?" he asks as he starts picking up the dishes from the dining room table.

Shaking himself out of his still kiss drunk stupor, he starts helping Tyler. "I don't really feel like going out, honestly. We can if you really want to though?"

"Take out, Netflix and cuddling sound better?"

"Much," Josh says, relieved and smiling.

**

In bed that night, as Tyler sleeps mere inches away from him, his mind can't help but go back to what Susan had said last night and today. He doesn't understand what she was being so cryptic about anyway. They are married, so of course they're supposed to appear to _have it bad_. It doesn't even make sense. And then the whole _you don't even realize it yet_ statement was even stranger than the other one _..._

Josh would never claim to be the sharpest person ever but just then one part of it clicks into place.

She knows it's not real.


	14. Omnia vincit amor, et nos cedamus amori

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Love conquers all things; let us yield to love.  
> -Virgil

The good thing about best friends, is that they don't yell at you when you call them at seven in the morning, in a panic, on the way to their house. Josh can tell though, that Jenna is close to testing out that theory, judging by how tired she looks when she opens the door. To be fair, he's sure she's more confused than anything; he knows he couldn't have been making much sense on the phone.

"God," Jenna says as he walks inside and past her. "You look like hell. Did you even sleep last night?" Josh shrugs. He maybe slept a hour in total. "Come on," he follows her. "I put coffee on after we hung up." He already had three cups this morning while contemplating on exactly what to do, but one more couldn't hurt. Josh stands by the counter, drumming his fingertips along the top of it while he watches Jenna pull two mugs out of the cabinet. "So, want to tell me why you're interrupting my sleep too?"

His fingers stop, only just catching the last couple of words. It doesn't take him much to figure out that she must be wanting to know why he's standing in her kitchen, looking like Tweek Tweak from South Park, right now. He resists shrugging his shoulders again; that's the problem, Josh doesn't even fully know why he's there, himself. Trying to tell her already on the phone didn't work out too well, so he takes in a deep breath and starts back slower this time as he speaks, "Susan knows."

Jenna gives him a look as she pulls the half and half out of the refrigerator. "She knows what, exactly?"

There's two things he can say here: both the cause of his instant insomnia and non-stop racing thoughts. He opts for the easiest one to say at the moment, not even wanting to entertain the other one. "That the marriage is fake."

The way the carton is in a sudden death grip in Jenna's hands, he can tell she is close to dropping it as her eyes go wide. "I thought you said everything went fine? Why didn't you say anything..."

They both pause as a small cry comes out of the baby monitor that's on the counter. It doesn't last but a second, and then Josh is answering her, "I didn't realize it until I was going to bed last night."

If she didn't look confused before, that just sealed the deal. Both of her eyebrows simultaneously raise as she puts his cup in front of him. "I'm sorry. You've lost me. How does it go from okay to a completely different conclusion the same day? Did she call you or something?"

He shakes his head as he sips the hot liquid. "No. It's something she said in the restaurant that doesn't make any sense unless she knows it's not real." Josh doesn't even wait for her to ask what it is. "Tyler got up to go to the bathroom, in the middle of dinner, and she starting saying that I have it bad and like something about that I don't even realize it yet." Jenna's eyes widen in a totally different way and the corners of her mouth turn up slightly. "That's kind of the whole point, right? To seem like we're a couple and are in love, so why would she even comment on that, you know?"

Jenna's smile is more obvious now, and she isn't even holding the amused look on her face back anymore. "Hm. Always did like, Susan."

If Josh could close his eyes at all, he would glare. "Yeah? Well, I don't think I like either of you much right now." He sets his cup down before rubbing his face with both hands as Jenna laughs. "So hilarious; everything is about to be ruined and all you can do is laugh at me and make snide remarks."

"I swear to god," Jenna mutters as she sets her cup down too. "Do you honestly believe that everything is over?"

"Well, yeah. She knows."

He can see her press her lips together, trying not to laugh or smile again. "Look, if her knowing would be the end of this whole ruse, don't you think she would have said something to you yesterday, instead of just letting you believe differently?"

The question isn't one Josh even thought of yet: why would she just go along with it if she knows it's fake? "I don't...I mean... I have no idea."

"I may know why." This time, a smile does break through.

He doesn't like the look in her eyes as the smile gets wider. "Care to share?"

"Obviously she sees what everyone else but you seem to know."

Fingers move to his temples, rubbing briefly as he takes a deep breath. "Can you maybe stop being so damn cryptic too? It's like I'm all the sudden Batman and you two are The Joker and Riddler."

"Like you'd be Batman." He manages to squint enough to glare as she laughs again. "Fine, sorry. I'll try to make this easy for you. What did she hint to, at the restaurant?" Suddenly, all of the coffee sitting in his stomach, doesn't feel like it's there to stay. He can't force the words out, in fear that they won't be the only thing leaving his mouth. Jenna must notice, and takes pity on him by answering for him. "There's something real between you two. It may not have started off that way, but it's real now."

He groans, turning to sink his back against the counter, gripping the edge of it with both of his hands. "How was I stupid enough... How did I even let this happen?" The sheer veil of denial he thought was firmly in place, shreds as the words both his aunt and Jenna said finally sink in; there is no more denying it.

He's fallen for Tyler. And yeah, he has it bad.

The epiphany sits heavy as a lump in his throat. It's not like he didn't know that he likes Tyler, sure; the denial isn't that deep. It actually being more than just someone he enjoys being around, and occasionally kissing, is what he's been completely oblivious to. "Why does this have to be a bad thing?" His eyes snap up to her's when she starts talking, "Thought we've already established that he won't hurt you?"

"It's not just that, Jen."

"Then what is it? I'm really failing to see the issue here. It's not about potentially losing the money if it doesn't work out, is it?"

Josh scoffs as he looks away and crosses his arms. "No, it's not about the money." His mind goes back to his initial fears the day Tyler moved in with him. "I just don't know if I can be what he needs me to be...to be good enough to keep him around. He's just..."

Jenna moves to stand in front of him before wrapping him in a hug. "Joshua," she says, voice softening. "Tyler is amazing, yes, but so are you." It's like she can read his mind as she pulls away a little and turns his chin towards her face. "Don't let what that asshole did to you, make you think you're not good enough for Tyler. That wasn't your fault. He was a terrible person; nothing you could have done, would have changed what happened."

Even though he knows deep down that she is right about Mason, doubts about what Tyler may feel about him, are still bothering him. "It doesn't really matter anyway. He probably doesn't even consider this more than what it is: a business transaction."

Jenna rolls her eyes and backs away. "You need to talk to him."

"I don't want to talk to him."

"Believe me," she says, picking her cup back up. "You want to to talk to him."

Josh still doesn't look her way. "Maybe I don't have to talk to him."

She huffs after taking a sip. "Just trust me. Let him know how you feel."

"So he can think I'm breaking the agreement and want to leave?" He pushes himself away from the counter. "Thanks, but I'll pass." Before she can respond, his phone vibrates in his pocket.

> Tyler: Where are you? Everything okay?

He sighs. Josh completely forgot that Tyler would be wondering why he's waking up to an empty house.

> Josh: Yeah, sorry. Couldn't sleep so I went for a drive. I'll be home soon.

Jenna is smiling as he pockets his phone. "The husband?"

"Yep. We're supposed to go for breakfast and shopping, so he's just asking where I am."

She mumbles something under her breath and shakes her head. "Go home." He starts walking to the front door, turning to give her a hug before he can leave out. "Do you both a favor, stop this game of back and forth and just talk to him."

"Fine." He relents. "I'll do it. I promise."

**

He doesn't though.

Every time he's tried to work up the courage to do it over the past three weeks, he'd start teetering on the edge of a panic attack. Everything has been so good between them. A little too good and he knows that's been part of the problem: the fear of losing it all. They both have been content in the domestic bliss that they've seemed to fallen into lately. The kissing never stopped. Nor did the cuddles on the couch or the lingering touches and looks.

Tyler still hasn't made any indication of wanting more, but Josh is happy enough playing house for now.

In hindsight, he should have known that it would all come to a point where unchecked tension and unsaid things, couldn't stay that way any longer. It's the day of Jenna's birthday barbeque, and they are just arriving at her house. Josh hasn't been looking forward to it. He's managed to avoid seeing her too much for the past couple of weeks, wanting to dodge her insistent prodding at him to confess to Tyler about how he feels.

With everything else going on, he's just hoping it won't be the focus of her attention.

Josh parks the car on the curb and kills the engine. Before he can open the door to get out, Tyler grabs his hand. "We're pretending to be married here, right?"

He'd been so caught up in the dread of going, for other reasons, that he completely forgot about that. "Uh. Yeah, if that's okay with you? Like I said, it's just some of Jenna's friends and family but it might be less confusing to say that, than to explain everything."

Tyler nods as he let's go of his hand. "That's fine. I was just making sure. Rather ask than assume."

 _I like being married to you, so no need to ask_ , is what Josh wishes he could answer him with, but he just smiles instead before getting out. He opens the gate for Tyler when they get to the back yard. Jenna and a few other people are already swimming. "Only she would have a pool party for her thirtieth birthday." Tyler laughs as Jenna waves them over.

She and Henry are in the shallow end. Josh squats down in front of the infant float. "Hey little dude." Henry smiles as he wraps his fingers around one of Josh's thumbs.

"You guys can go ahead and get in if you want," Jenna says, adjusting the shade cover back over the float. "There's a snack and drink table too. Dinner will be ready in a little while."

Josh puts his keys, phone and wallet on the patio table, and they both hang their shirts on the back of one of the chairs. Tyler grabs the bottle of sunscreen from the table and turns to him. "Do you mind getting my back? I'll do yours after."

"Sure." Josh takes the bottle and squeezes some into his hand. Tyler turns around in front of him. All he wants to do is place kisses across the top of his back as he steps even closer to him. He thinks better of it and starts to rub the sunscreen on the skin there instead. Admittedly, Josh probably takes longer than necessary to do his entire back; Tyler gives him something between a smirk and a smile when he's done.

**

"I think my hands are sufficiently wrinkled." Tyler floats in front of him in the deep end. It's where they've mostly been staying for the past hour. No one else has been around there much, so Josh won't lie and say it hasn't been on purpose.

"Yeah, mine too," Tyler replies after holding one of his above the water. "Kind of ready to check out the snacks and take a break."

Josh glances at the patio table where Jenna is sitting. Henry's sleeping in her arms and she's occupied talking to other people, so he nods his head. "Same."

Tyler hands him a bottle of water once they get to the table. "Something going on between you and Jen?"

The top is cracked open as he breathes out a nervous laugh. "That obvious?"

"You're avoiding her like the plague, so I would say so."

"It's nothing bad." Josh shrugs as he takes a sip. "She's just been riding my ass about something lately. And well, you know how she is." Before his hand can touch one of the cupcakes in front of him, he hears his phone ring. Jenna picks it up from the table and mouths, _Bill_ , to him. "It's my dad. I'll be back." He grabs the phone from Jenna and answers it while walking to the other side of the yard where it's quiet.

"Hey." He's accompanying him and other colleagues to a conference next weekend, in Florida, so they're going over a few final booking details for the rooms.

Usually he's bored out of his mind on these trips, but the one this year is in Miami, and a few spouses, including Tyler, are going as well. He's looking forward to it more than he will admit. As his dad carries on talking in his ear, Josh watches someone walk up to the table and start talking to Tyler; he recognizes him as Jenna's old assistant, Justin: the one she tried to get him to date a year ago.

He knows they're still close, but he's a little shocked to see him there.

When he looks over at Jenna, she glances his way as well and smirks before turning her attention to Tyler and Justin. He follows her gaze back to them. Tyler's laughing while the guy talks. Something about the look on Jenna's face, and just the situation in general, makes him start to feel a little anxious. It isn't jealousy. Tyler's not exactly his, and even if he was, he can talk to whoever he wants; he has a feeling Jenna is up to something though.

He just doesn't know what.

Josh snaps out of it as his dad is calling his name. "Sorry, I'm here." Jenna gets up from the table and starts walking his way. "That's the closest one to the conference hall, so makes sense." He holds a finger up as she approaches. "Yeah, sounds good. Alright bye." He sighs. "What are you doing, Jen?"

She feigns an innocent smile and tone. "I can't come and talk to my bestie? Who has been avoiding me, by the way." He raises an eyebrow. "Oh, like I haven't noticed that you've tucked yourself away with your man, the entire party."

He huffs and glares. "You know what I mean," he says, nodding his head towards the table.

"Afraid I don't." Her smile isn't helping her lie any as she looks that way too. "They seem to be hitting it off pretty well."

"So, is this the plan? Invite the only other gay guy you know to hit on Tyler, so I would be jealous and finally make a move?" Josh isn't even shocked by this. Of course this is exactly like something she would do. "Well, hate to break it to you, I'm not jealous and nothing has changed."

She tsks. "Honestly, Joshua, I am a little offended if you think _that_ is the plan." Jenna winks and then walks away. He can't say that he feels any better about it now, since she insinuated that she is up to something, after all. Not wanting to give her the satisfaction, he doesn't go straight to Tyler like she's probably expecting; instead, he goes back to the pool after putting his phone up.

Once in the deep end, he settles against one of the sides, setting his folded arms on the concrete, and then resting his chin on top of them. A little while later, a shadow towers over him. "Hey." He looks up as Tyler sits down in front of him on the ground. "Brought cookies." Before he can grab it, Tyler is breaking off a piece and feeding it to him. "Good, right?"

Josh chews and nods, watching him take a bite as well. "So, having fun?" He tries not to look Justin's way as he asks that.

"Mhm. It's been good. I talked to a friend of Jenna's for a bit, so that was nice."

"Oh?" Josh asks, sounding nonchalant as possible. "Justin, I think? Yeah, he's pretty cool."

Tyler smiles and raises an eyebrow. Josh guesses he didn't disguise his tone well enough. "Didn't really catch his name." He feeds him another piece. "But he's nice."

Planting both of his hands against the ground, Josh pulls himself out of the water; he sits next to Tyler and grabs a cookie from his hand. "Bill is booking everyone's rooms. He found a place near where the conference is gonna be but still close to the beach, so you won't be stuck in a room bored while I'm gone."

"That will be nice."

Josh hums. "I won't have to be there as long as everyone else, so we should be able to go out and do a few other things too."

He feels Tyler's shoulder brush his. "I'm looking forward to it."

**

Once they get home that night, they both head straight to the shower. Josh is in their bedroom getting undressed, while Tyler is in the guest bathroom. His phone vibrates on the dresser as he is taking off his socks.

> Jenna: A certain someone told me that you were the only thing Tyler talked about today...and very fondly at that. Just saying ;))

Josh's stomach feels like it's doing back flips as he smiles and then heads into the bathroom.

It doesn't shock him when Tyler is already finished and on the couch, by the time he's done. He took a much longer than usual shower. Truthfully, he just sat under the spray, trying to fully process her text and the implications of it...

Tyler possibly likes him just as much.

He's laid out across the couch, on his side, watching tv. Tyler turns his head. "I can move if you want me to?"

"Nah, I can lay on this end."

"And what? Have my feet in your face?" He laughs and scoots his body forward and away from the back of the couch. "You can just lay behind me, if you want? Plenty of room."

Josh swallows and tries not to stammer out the next words, "Sure. Yeah." There's not much room, so he knows they'll pretty much be spooning. They haven't done that before. He knows it's a potentially dangerous line to cross; it seems too intimate for what they are supposed to be doing here.

Even if he doesn't know what the hell that is anymore.

Josh squeezes himself behind him, and ends up right against the back of Tyler. Not knowing where to put his arm, he keeps it tucked to his side, and then rests his head on the pillow. He really does try to pay attention to whatever is on the screen, but gives up within ten minutes. With the closer than ever proximity, all he can feel and smell is Tyler. It's way too distracting. Starting to feel achy and stiff, from laying dead still, he shifts a little.

Tyler makes a breathy noise and moves back against him, ever so slightly.

A hand reaches back, grabbing one of his arms and pulls it over Tyler's bare waist, bringing him even closer against him. Josh is sure he's forgotten how to breathe. Tyler's giving him some pretty clear signals right now, and it's helping him muster up the courage to just go for it and do what he does next: he noses and kisses the back of Tyler's neck, earning another soft sound. Tightening his grip on Tyler's waist, he places gentle open mouth kisses along his shoulders, near the same area he wanted to do that to earlier that day.

Tyler's body relaxes against him as his breathing picks up.

Content in what he's doing, and the reactions to it, he continues touching every part of skin he can reach with his mouth. Tyler doesn't stay slack against him for long; he shifts his lower body back, in small but deliberate thrusts. "Shit," Josh breathes out as he places his hand on Tyler's hip, gripping it, and then starts move a little as well.

He can already feel himself getting hard; Josh is convinced that this must be a dream.

Tyler turns his head to look back at him, grabbing a fistful of hair and quickly pulls his mouth to his. The line might as well be in a different country, at this point. He knows they maybe should quit before it goes any further, but Tyler isn't stopping him, and he can't stop either.

It's been almost two months since he's had sex with anyone and his hand isn't quite the same thing when he quickly gets himself off in the shower. Plus he'd be in the worst denial yet if he'd say that he isn't extremely attracted to Tyler, mentally and physically.

By what's currently going on, he can now confirm without a doubt, that it goes both ways.

Just that thought alone, has the room feeling like it's suddenly a thousand degrees. He maneuvers over Tyler until he rolls onto his back, slotting himself in-between his legs. Tiny choked moans are being panted into his mouth as hips move upwards against him. That's when he notices that Tyler's hard as well.

Josh just feels like he's so damn lost.

He doesn't forget for a second who's under him, but it's like he's on autopilot as his mouth attaches to Tyler's neck and chest, alternating light bites and soft presses of his lips. With his arm wrapped under Tyler's back, he arches his stomach up higher to meet his mouth as Josh kisses down it. Just as he's getting lower near the waistband of his boxers, the body under him tenses. "Josh." It's not much more than a hoarse whisper, but it's enough to pull him out of his lust driven haze. He freezes and lifts his head up. Tyler's looking down at him, biting his bottom lip.

Josh can see the apprehension on his face, so he lowers him back down and sits up. He didn't realize how fast his heart is beating and can almost hear it. "Sorry."

Tyler sits up too and moves a pillow over his lap. Josh looks away, trying not to blush even more. "It's fine. That was great and all but..."

"A little too fast," Josh finishes.

"Yeah."

Just as his heart slows down, it starts to pick back up as the next words come out, "We should talk."

He chances a look at Tyler, who's smiling. "Okay. Tomorrow? Too tired tonight."

Between being exhausted from the day and a little overwhelmed by what just happened, Josh is relieved at that. He smiles back at him. "That's what I was thinking too."

**

Despite being nervous about their talk, Josh slept surprisingly good. It may have had something to do with Tyler cuddling up next to him in the bed and falling asleep there. After he managed to stop smiling, he fell asleep too.

It's Sunday, so they're at the park having donuts and coffee. What has also been surprising, is that the morning so far, hasn't been awkward at all. Just knowing now that Tyler shares some of the same feelings toward him, is like a little bit of a weight off of his shoulders. There is a smudge of jelly on the corner of Tyler's mouth as he hands another donut to Josh. He smiles. "What?" Tyler asks, smiling too.

"It's just you have a little." Josh wipes the jelly off with his thumb. He brings it to his own mouth and sucks it off of his finger. "Mm. I should have gotten one of those."

When he looks back at Tyler, he notices his eyes are still on his mouth. Caught, he looks away, face a little pink. " So, that happened, last night."

Josh almost fumbles the donut that's in his hand. It's not like he doesn't know that they will be talking about that today, but he just didn't expect it to be now. "Indeed it did."

It's quiet for a few minutes after that. Josh doesn't really know how to start the conversation. He's thankful that Tyler does. "I kind of wasn't sure that you would even be interested in anything more with me, but I thought I was sensing something there between us. In any case, I'm sorry if I pushed you at all into doing that."

Josh can only gape for a second before smiling. That is a twist he isn't expecting at all. He had no clue Tyler was worried as well. "You know I like you, right?" He asks, after a moment, trying to sound sincere but as blunt as possible. He wants Tyler to know he's serious and this isn't just an attempt to comfort him. "You're amazing and I can't think of another person that I like being around like this. You weren't picking up on nothing, I can promise you that."

Tyler looks at him as he smiles. "So, what does all of this mean, exactly?"

With that question, Josh's confidence falters. "I'm not really sure, honestly. What do you think it means?"

"Probably that we should be together."

It's said so fast, that Josh isn't sure he heard right. "Wait. Are you saying you actually want to be with me like that?"

"Well, I haven't been dropping every clue possible for no reason." Tyler takes a sip of his coffee before setting it down and then grabs his free hand. "I obviously like you a lot too."

Having no room to talk, he almost hates himself as he asks the next question, "Why didn't you say anything before?"

"Why didn't you?"

In that moment, the idea that they have both been feeling the same way the whole time, is too much to take, and he can't help but laugh. Tyler must be thinking the same thing, because he starts laughing too. It quiets down after a few moments. Josh starts stroking the back of Tyler's hand with his thumb. "So are we really doing this? Dating, I mean?"

"Well." Josh's heart momentarily seizes. "Technically I think we've been dating for a couple of months now. And, we're married and living together. I'm not sure we can call it that."

"True." Josh chews on his lip for a second, trying not to smile even wider. "I guess we can not worry about putting a label on anything right now and just move forward. Take it one step at a time?" 

"I think that sounds perfect." 

"Me too." It's still scary to him. He knows it can go either way, but as he watches Tyler bite into his next donut, while smiling at him, it feels worth taking the chance. 

He's sure of that much, at least. 

**

Soft snores are close to his head. Tyler is laying on his pillow too, and has been since they got into bed that night. Not that Josh is complaining, quite the opposite in fact. He hasn't felt this happy about anything in a very long time. That kind of terrifies him though, because as he shifts a little closer to Tyler and nuzzles the back of his neck, he realizes something out loud: 

"I could definitely love you."


End file.
